Simulation of the systematic outcome of a reaction.

The simulation starts from 50 000 initial target copies and  = 1.95. The results are shown in various representations: fluorescence versus cycle (panel A), ln²() versus fluorescence (panel B), and efficiency versus cycle (panel C). The dashed line represents self limiting conditions, the solid line represents primer depleting conditions. The vertical dotted line in panel A represents the phase switch criterion: . The two arrows in panel C mark the position of the second derivative maxima, the arrows in panel B mark the corresponding positions in the efficiency vs. cycle plot.