More rigorous results on the Kauffman-Levin model of evolution

Abstract

The purpose of this note is to provide proofs for some facts about the NK model of evolution proposed by Kauffman and Levin. In the case of normally distributed fitness summands, some of these facts have been previously conjectured and heuristics given. In particular, we provide rigorous asymptotic estimates for the number of local fitness maxima in the case when K is unbounded. We also examine the role of the individual fitness distribution and find the model to be quite robust with respect to this.

Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009117904000000081 in the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)