Coalescence and sampling distributions for Feller diffusions

DOI10.1016/J.TPB.2023.12.001MaRDI QIDQ6414862zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Conrad J. Burden, Robert Griffiths

Publication date 23 October 2022

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2023.12.001

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Biology and other natural sciences (92-XX)

Abstract: Consider the diffusion process defined by the forward equation $u_t(t,x)=frac12{xu(t,x)}_{xx}-alpha{xu(t,x)}_x$ for $t,xge0$ and $-infty<alpha<infty$, with an initial condition $u(0,x)=delta(x-x_0)$. This equation was introduced and solved by Feller to model the growth of a population of independently reproducing individuals. We explore important coalescent processes related to Feller's solution. For any $alpha$ and $x_0>0$ we calculate the distribution of the random variable $A_n(s,t)$, defined as the finite number of ancestors at a time $s$ in the past of a sample of size $n$ taken from the infinite population of a Feller diffusion at a time $t$ since since its initiation. We illustrate two applications: The first is an efficient derivation of the stationary sampling distribution of a subcritical diffusion of a population of multiple types undergoing neutral mutations between types. The second is the construction of a coalescent tree for a supercritical diffusion assuming a uniform prior on the time since initiation of the tree, from which sampling distributions for a multi-type population undergoing slow, neutral mutations are derived.

Cited in

(3)

• Sampling probabilities, diffusions, ancestral graphs, and duality under strong selection
• Asymptotics for the site frequency spectrum associated with the genealogy of a birth and death process
• The Feller diffusion conditioned on a single ancestral founder

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