Reading: Kingman, J. F. C. (1982). The coalescent. Stochastic Processes and their Applications, 13(3), 235-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4149(82)90011-4.
You are expected to spend at least 2hr studying this paper, which is fundamental to the theory of phylodynamics. It is not required to fully master the entire paper; your task is to make progress.
Theorem 1 is the most important result. You should probably focus on the first 4 pages, at least initially.
What is a continuous time Markov chain? What is its jump chain?
Depending on your background, you may quickly find concepts that are unfamiliar or difficult. Keep a list of these for the class discussion. As time allows, you can also self-study.
Why is this paper considered a major contribution?
In class 2, we will discuss this paper and there will also be time to ask questions about the Grenfell et al. (2004) paper that we discussed last time. It is not essential to read that paper; the discussion in class 1 is all we need to move forward. However, if time permits, that paper is also worth some of your attention.