Mixing and hitting times for finite Markov chains

Let 0 < alpha < 1/2. We show that that the mixing time of a continuous-time Markov chain on a finite state space is about as large as the largest expected hitting time of a subset of the state space with stationary measure >= alpha. Suitably modified results hold in discrete time and/or without the reversibility assumption. The key technical tool in the proof is the construction of random set A such that the hitting time of A is a light-tailed stationary time for the chain. We note that essentially the same results were obtained independently by Peres and Sousi.