Florian Gaiser

Bio: Florian Gaiser is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Counting process. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 8 citations.

On the block counting process and the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents

Abstract: We study the block counting process and the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents. Formulas for the infinitesimal rates of both processes are provided. It is shown that the block counting process is Siegmund dual to the fixation line. For exchangeable coalescents restricted to a sample of size n and with dust we provide a convergence result for the block counting process as n tends to infinity. The associated limiting process is related to the frequencies of singletons of the coalescent. Via duality we obtain an analog convergence result for the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents with dust. The Dirichlet coalescent and the Poisson‐Dirichlet coalescent are studied in detail.

On the block counting process and the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents

Abstract: We study the block counting process and the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents. Formulas for the infinitesimal rates of both processes are provided. It is shown that the block counting process is Siegmund dual to the fixation line. For exchangeable coalescents restricted to a sample of size n and with dust we provide a convergence result for the block counting process as n tends to infinity. The associated limiting process is related to the frequencies of singletons of the coalescent. Via duality we obtain an analog convergence result for the fixation line of exchangeable coalescents with dust. The Dirichlet coalescent and the Poisson-Dirichlet coalescent are studied in detail.

The common ancestor type distribution of a $\Lambda$-Wright-Fisher process with selection and mutation

Abstract: Using graphical methods based on a `lookdown' and pruned version of the {\em ancestral selection graph}, we obtain a representation of the type distribution of the ancestor in a two-type Wright-Fisher population with mutation and selection, conditional on the overall type frequency in the old population. This extends results from Lenz, Kluth, Baake, and Wakolbinger (Theor. Pop. Biol., 103 (2015), 27-37) to the case of heavy-tailed offspring, directed by a reproduction measure $\Lambda$. The representation is in terms of the equilibrium tail probabilities of the line-counting process $L$ of the graph. We identify a strong pathwise Siegmund dual of $L$, and characterise the equilibrium tail probabilities of $L$ in terms of hitting probabilities of the dual process.

The Symmetric Coalescent and Wright-Fisher models with bottlenecks

Abstract: We define a new class of $\Xi$-coalescents characterized by a possibly infinite measure over the non negative integers. We call them symmetric coalescents since they are the unique family of exchangeable coalescents satisfying a symmetry property on their coagulation rates: they are invariant under any transformation that consists in moving one element from one block to another without changing the total number of blocks. We illustrate the diversity of behaviors of this family of processes by introducing and studying a one parameter subclass, the $(\beta,S)$-coalescents. We also embed this family in a larger class of $\Xi$-coalescents arising as the limit genealogies of Wright-Fisher models with bottlenecks. Some convergence results rely on a new Skorokhod type metric, that induces the Meyer-Zheng topology, which allows to study the scaling limit of non-markovian processes using standard techniques.

General selection models: Bernstein duality and minimal ancestral structures

Abstract: $\Lambda$-Wright--Fisher processes provide a robust framework to describe the type-frequency evolution of an infinite neutral population. We add a polynomial drift to the corresponding stochastic differential equation to incorporate frequency-dependent selection. A decomposition of the drift allows us to approximate the solution of the stochastic differential equation by a sequence of Moran models. The genealogical structure underlying the Moran model leads in the large population limit to a generalisation of the ancestral selection graph of Krone and Neuhauser. Building on this object, we construct a continuous-time Markov chain and relate it to the forward process via a new form of duality, which we call Bernstein duality. We adapt classical methods based on the moment duality to determine the time to absorption and criteria for the accessibility of the boundaries; this extends a recent result by Gonzalez Casanova and Spano. An intriguing feature of the construction is that the same forward process is compatible with multiple backward models. In this context we introduce suitable notions for minimality among the ancestral processes and characterise the corresponding parameter sets. In this way we recover classic ancestral structures as minimal ones.

Hitting probabilities for the Greenwood model and relations to near constancy oscillation

Abstract: We derive some properties of the Greenwood epidemic Galton–Watson branching model. Formulas for the probability $h(i,j)$ that the associated Markov chain $X$ hits state $j$ when started from state $i\ge j$ are obtained. For $j\ge1$, it follows that $h(i,j)$ slightly oscillates with varying $i$ and has infinitely many accumulation points. In particular, $h(i,j)$ does not converge as $i\to\infty$. It is shown that there exists a Markov chain $Y$ which is Siegmund dual to the chain $X$. The hitting probabilities of the dual Markov chain $Y$ are investigated.

General selection models: Bernstein duality and minimal ancestral structures

Abstract: $\Lambda$-Wright--Fisher processes provide a robust framework to describe the type-frequency evolution of an infinite neutral population. We add a polynomial drift to the corresponding stochastic differential equation to incorporate frequency-dependent selection. A decomposition of the drift allows us to approximate the solution of the stochastic differential equation by a sequence of Moran models. The genealogical structure underlying the Moran model leads in the large population limit to a generalisation of the ancestral selection graph of Krone and Neuhauser. Building on this object, we construct a continuous-time Markov chain and relate it to the forward process via a new form of duality, which we call Bernstein duality. We adapt classical methods based on the moment duality to determine the time to absorption and criteria for the accessibility of the boundaries; this extends a recent result by Gonz\'alez Casanova and Span\`o. An intriguing feature of the construction is that the same forward process is compatible with multiple backward models. In this context we introduce suitable notions for minimality among the ancestral processes and characterise the corresponding parameter sets. In this way we recover classic ancestral structures as minimal ones.