Before revision:  However, the state space of Kingman's genealogies grows superexponentially with sample size n, making inference computationally unfeasible already for small n. We introduce a new coalescent model called Tajima heterochronous n-coalescent with a substantially smaller cardinality of the genealogical space. This process allows to analyze samples collected at different times, a situation that in applications is both met (e.g. ancient DNA and RNA from rapidly evolving pathogens like viruses) and statistically desirable (variance reduction and parameter identifiability).
After revision:  However, the state space of Kingman's genealogies grows superexponentially with sample size . Here, we build on recent work based on a lower resolution coalescent process, the Tajima coalescent, to model longitudinal samples. While the Kingman coalescent models the ancestry of labeled individuals, the heterochronous Tajima coalescent models the ancestry of individuals labeled by their sampling time. We propose a new inference scheme for the reconstruction of effective population size trajectories based on this model with the potential to improve computational efficiency. Modeling of longitudinal samples is necessary for applications (e.g. ancient DNA and RNA from rapidly evolving pathogens like viruses) and statistically desirable (variance reduction and parameter identifiability).