English

Absorption and fixation times for evolutionary processes on graphs

Populations and Evolution 2026-01-16 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP Probability

Abstract

In this paper, we study the absorption and fixation times for evolutionary processes on graphs, under different updating rules. While in Moran process a single neighbour is randomly chosen to be replaced, in proliferation processes other neighbours can be replaced using Bernoulli or binomial draws depending on 0<p10 < p \leq 1. There is a critical value pcp_c such that the proliferation is advantageous or disadvantageous in terms of fixation probability depending on whether p>pcp > p_c or p<pcp < p_c. We clarify the role of symmetries for computing the fixation time in Moran process. We show that the Maruyama-Kimura symmetry depend on the graph structure induced in each state, implying asymmetry for all graphs except cliques and cycles. There is a fitness value, not necessarily 11, beyond which the fixation time decreases monotonically. We apply Harris' graphical method to prove that the fixation time decreases monotonically depending on pp. Thus there exists another value ptp_t for which the proliferation is advantageous or disadvantageous in terms of time. However, at the critical level p=pcp=p_c, the proliferation is highly advantageous when r+r \to +\infty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.09737,
  title  = {Absorption and fixation times for evolutionary processes on graphs},
  author = {Fernando Alcalde Cuesta and Gustavo Guerberoff and Álvaro Lozano Rojo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.09737},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

29 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:04:45.401Z