Preface

This document gives an introduction to the theory of stochastic drift, as developed by the community researching the theory of randomized search heuristics. For researchers new to the area (but with some basic familiarity with probability theory and random processes), the early sections provide a gentle introduction into the main theorems and sample applications. Later sections give more specialized theorems for particular applications. Seasoned researchers might turn directly to later sections, browsing the list of drift theorems for many settings which provides further pointers to the literature, as well as remarks on details of the techniques and their relation to similar approaches.
Furthermore, this document serves as “a summarized and systematic presentation of the candidate's own work” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Habilitation at the Digital Engineering Faculty of the University of Potsdam, Germany.