Evolutionary dynamics and eigenspectrum of confluent Heun equation

Abstract

We consider a biological population evolving under the joint action of selection, mutation and random genetic drift. The evolutionary dynamics are described by a one-dimensional Fokker–Planck equation whose eigenfunctions obey a confluent Heun equation. These eigenfunctions are expanded in an infinite series of orthogonal Jacobi polynomials and the expansion coefficients are found to obey a three-term recursion equation. Using scaling ideas, we obtain an expression for the expansion coefficients and an analytical estimate of the number of terms required in the series for an accurate determination of the eigenfunction. The eigenvalue spectrum is studied using a perturbation theory for weak selection and numerically for strong selection. In the latter case, we find that the eigenvalue for the first excited state exhibits a sharp transition: for mutation rate below one, the eigenvalue increases linearly with increasing mutation rate and then remains a constant; higher eigenvalues are found to display a more complex behavior.