The genealogical tree of a chromosome

We consider a simple neutral model to describe the genealogy of chromosomes by taking into account the effects of both recombination and coalescence. Seen as a statistical physics problem, the model looks like an inverse prob lem: A number of properties such as pair or three-point correlations can be computed easily, but the prediction of global properties, in particular th e average number of ancestors, remains difficult. In the absence of exact s olutions, these global properties can nevertheless be estimated by the usua l approximations: series expansions, Monte Carlo simulations, mean-field th eory. Simulations exhibit also non-self-averaging properties similar to tho se of mean-field spin glasses.