Exponential-mixture differential equation for survival probability

For a mixture distribution of exponential distributions, introduce one convolution state $A_j(u)={\int }_0^u\phi (z)e^{-{\beta }_j(u-z)}dz$ for each rate ${\beta }_j$. It satisfies $A_j^{\prime }=\phi -{\beta }_j{A}_j$. Together with the survival integro-differential equation these form a constant-coefficient first-order system; applying the differential operators $D+{\beta }_j$ eliminates the convolution states. For equal mixing weights at rates one and one half, with $r=\lambda /c$, the result is ${\phi }^{\prime \prime \prime }+(3/2-r){\phi }^{\prime \prime }+(1/2-3r/4){\phi }^{\prime }=0$. The original integral equation supplies initial conditions lost in elimination.