Empirical p values for the linkage peaks were obtained by performing 10,000 simulations using SOLAR. In SOLAR, simulations are performed with the quantitative traits while the genotypes are kept constant. A model is specified which describes the phenotypic distribution (mean and variance), the genetic components of the trait (heritability due to an underlying QTL and that attributable to polygenes) and the effects of any covariates (sex and age).
