Poisson-Dirichlet Distribution with Small Mutation Rate

Abstract

The behavior of the Poisson-Dirichlet distribution with small mutation rate is studied through large deviations. The structure of the rate function indicates that the number of alleles is finite at the instant when mutation appears. The large deviation results are then used to study the asymptotic behavior of the homozygosity, and the Poisson-Dirichlet distribution with symmetric selection. The latter shows that several alleles can coexist when selection intensity goes to infinity in a particular way as the mutation rate approaches zero.