On the Linearity of Replicator Equations

Nihat Ay and Ionas Erb

03-10-053

We show that replicator equations follow naturally from the exponential affine structure of the simplex known from information geometry. It is then natural to call replicator equations linear if their fitness function is affine. For such linear replicator equations an explicit solution can be found. The approach is also demonstrated for the example of Eigen's hypercycle, where some new analytic results are obtained using the explicit solution.