(En) Solving the Poisson distribution with generating functions

2026/08/05 Self-Study

Process:

\[\begin{aligned} \ce{x ->[\lambda] x + 1} \\ \ce{x ->[\beta x] x - 1} \end{aligned}\]

Chemical master equation:

\[\begin{aligned} \frac{d}{dt}P(x=m) &= \lambda P(x=m-1) - \lambda P(x=m)\\ &\quad + \beta(m+1)P(x=m+1) - \beta mP(x=m) \end{aligned}\]

Define the factorial moment

\[m^{\underline{k}} = \frac{m(m-1)\cdots(m-k+1)}{k!} = \binom{m}{k}\]

Summing over the chemical master equation by $\sum_{m=0}^\infty m^{\underline{k}}$, we can get the factorial moment balance equation

\[\begin{aligned} \frac{d}{dt} \langle x \rangle &= \sum_{m=0}^\infty [\lambda(m-1)^{\underline{k}}P(x=m-1) - \lambda m^{\underline{k}}P(x=m)\\ &\quad + \beta(m+1)m^{\underline{k}}P(x=m+1) - \beta(m)m^{\underline{k}}P(x=m+1)]\\ &= \lambda[(m+1)^{\underline{k}}-m^{\underline{k}}]P(x=m)\\ &\quad - \beta [m(m-1)^{\underline{k}}-mm^{\underline{k}}]P(x=m)\\ &=\lambda k\langle x^{\underline{k-1}}\rangle - \beta k\langle x^{\underline{k}}\rangle \end{aligned}\]

Stationary solution ($\frac{d}{dt}\langle x \rangle=0$):

\[\lambda\langle x^{\underline{k-1}}\rangle = \beta \langle x^{\underline{k}}\rangle\]

For $k=1$ we get

\[\lambda=\beta\langle x\rangle\]

Then we get

\[\langle x^{\underline{k}}\rangle = \frac{\langle x\rangle^k}{k!}\]

Define the generating function

\[G(z)=\sum_{m=0}^\infty z^mP(x=m)\]

We find

\[\frac{\partial^k}{\partial z^k}G(z)\vert_{z=1}=k!\langle x^{\underline{k}}\rangle=k!\langle x\rangle^k\]

So a solution to the generating function is

\[G(z) = \exp(z\langle x\rangle)\exp(-\langle x\rangle)\]

Then get back the distribution by

\[P(x=m) = \frac{1}{m!}\frac{\partial^m}{\partial z^m} G(z)\vert_{z=0}\]

That says

\[P(x=m) = \frac{\langle x\rangle^m\exp(-\langle x\rangle)}{m!}\]

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