Free Recombination

The paper contrasts free recombination with a no-recombination model where high-fitness lineages can keep aggregate hazards finite despite late-age mutation accumulation. The model assumes free recombination, which erases linkage disequilibrium among mutation-accumulation sites. Under free recombination, mutant alleles carried by a random individual follow a Poisson point process over mutation types. Free recombination helps spread deleterious alleles throughout the population and prevents high-fitness lineages from preserving finite aggregate hazards at younger ages.