Branching process

In probability theory, a branching process is a Markov process that models a population in which each individual in generation n produces some random number of individuals in generation n + 1, according, in the simplest case, to a fixed probability distribution that does not vary from individual to individual.

Quotes

 * Branching processes provide perhaps the simplest example of a phase transition. They occur naturally as a model of the random evolution of a population that changes in time as a result of births and deaths.