Digital Commons Network^™

Identifiability Of Phylogenetic Models, Thomas J. Yacovone

Math and Computer Science Honors Theses

An algebraic statistical model is a parametrized family of probability distributions. Identifiability is a crucial property of a statistical model; when it holds, probability distributions in the model uniquely determine the parameters that produce them. In phylogenetics, models that are identifiable can be used to ascertain evolutionary relationships between species based on observed data, such as amino acid and DNA sequence data. However, global identifiability is a strong condition that may not always hold. A discrete parameter of a model is said to be generically identifiable if the set of probability distributions that do not uniquely determine the discrete parameter …