The coalescent
Stochastic Processes and their Applications, 13 (3):
235 - 248 (1982)DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-4149(82)90011-4
Abstract
The n-coalescent is a continuous-time Markov chain on a finite set of states, which describes the family relationships among a sample of n members drawn from a large haploid population. Its transition probabilities can be calculated from a factorization of the chain into two independent components, a pure death process and a discrete-time jump chain. For a deeper study, it is useful to construct a more complicated Markov process in which n-coalescents for all values of n are embedded in a natural way.
