  We suggest a simple deterministic approximation for the growth of the
favoured-allele frequency during a selective sweep. Using this approximation we
introduce an accurate model for genetic hitch-hiking. Only when Ns < 10 (N is
the population size and s denotes the selection coefficient), are discrepancies
between our approximation and direct numerical simulations of a Moran model
noticeable. Our model describes the gene genealogies of a contiguous segment of
neutral loci close to the selected one, and it does not assume that the
selective sweep happens instantaneously. This enables us to compute SNP
distributions on the neutral segment without bias.
