Variational characterization of multitype Galton-Watson branching processes

Abstract

In this paper, we give a variational characterization for the growth rate of a multitype population modelled by a multitype Galton-Watson branching process. In particular, the so-called retrospective process plays an important role in the description of the equilibrium state used in the variational characterization. We define the retrospective process associated with a multitype Galton-Watson branching process and identify it with the mutation process describing the type evolution along typical lineages of the multitype Galton-Watson branching process.