Abstract

The topic of linkage has, with a few notable exceptions, been largely ignored. Recent studies have shown this approach to be a profound mistake--- that GAs ignoring linkage do so at their own computational peril. Inversion, the operator usually called upon to solve this problem, has proven too slow vis a vis the forces of selection. Inversion is a mutation like operator that acts on chromosomal structures. Where evolution by mutation is too slow and has failed, it remains possible that evolution by pairwise recombination or crossover can be successful. This paper shows that tight linkage can be evolved within the environment of a new crossover operator. 1 Introduction Early studies focused on the concepts of building blocks and linkage as central to understanding the GA (Holland, 1975). Since then, the topic of building blocks has been heavily explored while the topic of linkage has, with a few notable exceptions, been largely ignored (Goldberg, Korb, & Deb, 1989). Recent studies (Thi...

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