Hierarchical equilibria of branching populations

Abstract

The objective of this paper is the study of the equilibrium behavior of a population on the hierarchical group (Omega)N consisting of families of individuals undergoing critical branching random walk and in addition these families also develop according to a critical branching process. Strong transience of the random walk guarantees existence of an equilibrium for this two-level branching system. In the limit N -> (infinity symbol) (called the hierarchical mean field limit), the equilibrium aggregated populations in a nested sequence of balls (symbole)(N) of hierarchical radius (symbol) converge to a backward Markov chain on R+. This limiting Markov chain can be explicitly represented in terms of a cascade of subordinators which in turn makes possible a description of the genealogy of the population.Multilevel branching, hierarchical mean-field limit, strong transience,genealogy.