In this paper we examine the importance of the choice of metric in path
coupling, and the relationship of this to \emph{stopping time analysis}. We
give strong evidence that stopping time analysis is no more powerful than
standard path coupling. In particular, we prove a stronger theorem for path
coupling with stopping times, using a metric which allows us to restrict
analysis to standard one-step path coupling. This approach provides insight for
the design of non-standard metrics giving improvements in the analysis of
specific problems.
We give illustrative applications to hypergraph independent sets and SAT
instances, hypergraph colourings and colourings of bipartite graphs.Comment: 21 pages, revised version includes statement and proof of general
stopping times theorem (section 2.2), and additonal remarks in section