Genetic drift in sharing methods
Samir W. Mahfoud · 2002
Adding a sharing method to a genetic algorithm promotes the formation and maintenance of stable subpopulations. The paper explores the limits of sharing by deriving closed-form expressions for the expected time to disappearance of a subpopulation. The time to disappearance is shown to be an exponential function of population size, with relative subpopulation fitnesses determining the base of the exponential. However, disappearance time decreases rapidly as the number of subpopulations increases. Both theoretical and experimental illustrations are given of genetic drift in sharing.>