A Decomposition Theorem for Lévy Processes on Local Fields

The study of Lévy processes on local fields has been initiated by Albeverio et al. (1985)–(1998) and Evans (1989)–(1998). In this paper, a decomposition theorem for Lévy processes on local fields is given in terms of a structure result for measures on local fields and a Lévy–Khinchine representation. It is shown that a measure on a local field can be decomposed into three parts: a spherically symmetric measure, a totally non-spherically symmetric measure and a singular measure. We show that if the Radon–Nikodym derivative of the absolutely continuous part of a Lévy measure on a local field is locally constant, the Lévy process is the sum of a spherically symmetric random walk, a finite or countable set of totally non, spherically symmetric Lévy processes with single balls as support of their Lévy measure, end a singular Lévy process. These processes are independent. Explicit formulae for the transition function are obtained.     

The exact packing measure of Lévy trees

We study fine properties of Lévy trees that are random compact metric spaces introduced by Le Gall and Le Jan in 1998 as the genealogy of continuous state branching processes. Lévy trees are the scaling limits of Galton-Watson trees and they generalize the Aldous continuum random tree which corresponds to the Brownian case. In this paper, we prove that Lévy trees always have an exact packing measure: we explicitly compute the packing gauge function and we prove that the corresponding packing measure coincides with the mass measure up to a multiplicative constant.     

A general control variate method for option pricing under Lévy processes

We present a general control variate method for simulating path dependent options under Lévy processes. It is based on fast numerical inversion of the cumulative distribution functions and exploits the strong correlation of the payoff of the original option and the payoff of a similar option under geometric Brownian motion. The method is applicable for all types of Lévy processes for which the probability density function of the increments is available in closed form. Numerical experiments confirm that our method achieves considerable variance reduction for different options and Lévy processes. We present the applications of our general approach for Asian, lookback and barrier options under variance gamma, normal inverse Gaussian, generalized hyperbolic and Meixner processes.     

A stochastic heat equation with the distributions of Lévy processes as its invariant measures

We consider a linear heat equation on a half line with an additive noise chosen properly in such a manner that its invariant measures are a class of distributions of Lévy processes. Our assumption on the corresponding Lévy measure is, in general, mild except that we need its integrability to show that the distributions of Lévy processes are the only invariant measures of the stochastic heat equation.     

Hyperfinite stochastic integration for Lévy processes with finite-variation jump part

This article links the hyperfinite theory of stochastic integration with respect to certain hyperfinite Lévy processes with the elementary theory of pathwise stochastic integration with respect to pure-jump Lévy processes with finite-variation jump part. Since the hyperfinite Itô integral is also defined pathwise, these results show that hyperfinite stochastic integration provides a pathwise definition of the stochastic integral with respect to Lévy jump-diffusions with finite-variation jump part.As an application, we provide a short and direct nonstandard proof of the generalized Itô formula for stochastic differentials of smooth functions of Lévy jump-diffusions whose jumps are bounded from below in norm.     

Constructions of coupling processes for Lévy processes

We construct optimal Markov couplings of Lévy processes, whose Lévy (jump) measure has an absolutely continuous component. The construction is based on properties of subordinate Brownian motions and the coupling of Brownian motions by reflection.     

Gradient estimate for Ornstein-Uhlenbeck jump processes

By using absolutely continuous lower bounds of the Lévy measure, explicit gradient estimates are derived for the semigroup of the corresponding Lévy process with a linear drift. A derivative formula is presented for the conditional distribution of the process at time t under the condition that the process jumps before t. Finally, by using bounded perturbations of the Lévy measure, the resulting gradient estimates are extended to linear SDEs driven by Lévy-type processes.     

Coupling and strong Feller for jump processes on Banach spaces

By using lower bound conditions of the Lévy measure w.r.t. a nice reference measure, the coupling and strong Feller properties are investigated for the Markov semigroup associated with a class of linear SDEs driven by (non-cylindrical) Lévy processes on a Banach space. Unlike in the finite-dimensional case where these properties have also been confirmed for Lévy processes without drift, in the infinite-dimensional setting the appearance of a drift term is essential to ensure the quasi-invariance of the process by shifting the initial data. Gradient estimates and exponential convergence are also investigated. The main results are illustrated by specific models on the Wiener space and separable Hilbert spaces.     

White Noise of Poisson Random Measures

We develop a white noise theory for Poisson random measures associated with a pure jump Lévy process. The starting point of this theory is the chaos expansion of Itô. We use this to construct the white noise of a Poisson random measure, which takes values in a certain distribution space. Then we show, how a Skorohod/Itô integral for point processes can be represented by a Bochner integral in terms of white noise of the random measure and a Wick product. Further, based on these concepts we derive a generalized Clark–Haussmann–Ocone theorem with respect to a combination of Gaussian noise and pure jump Lévy noise. We apply this theorem to obtain an explicit formula for partial observation minimal variance portfolios in financial markets, driven by Lévy processes. As an example we compute the closest hedge to a binary option.     

Adaptive nonparametric estimation for Lévy processes observed at low frequency

This article deals with adaptive nonparametric estimation for Lévy processes observed at low frequency. For general linear functionals of the Lévy measure, we construct kernel estimators, provide upper risk bounds and derive rates of convergence under regularity assumptions.     

Stochastic integration for Lévy processes with values in Banach spaces

A stochastic integral of Banach space valued deterministic functions with respect to Banach space valued Lévy processes is defined. There are no conditions on the Banach spaces or on the Lévy processes. The integral is defined analogously to the Pettis integral. The integrability of a function is characterized by means of a radonifying property of an integral operator associated with the integrand. The integral is used to prove a Lévy–Itô decomposition for Banach space valued Lévy processes and to study existence and uniqueness of solutions of stochastic Cauchy problems driven by Lévy processes.     

Analysis of generalized Lévy white noise functionals

Employing the Segal-Bargmann transform (S-transform for abbreviation) of regular Lévy white noise functionals, we define and study the generalized Lévy white noise functionals by means of their functional representations acting on test functionals. The main results generalize (Gaussian) white noise analysis initiated by T. Hida to non-Gaussian cases. Thanks to the closed form of the S-transform of Lévy white noise functionals obtained in our previous paper, we are able to define and study the renormalization of products of Lévy white noises, multiplication operator by Lévy white noises, and the differential operators with respect to a Lévy white noise and their adjoint operators. In the courses of our investigation we also obtain a formula for the products of multiple Lévy-Itô stochastic integrals. As applications, we discuss the existence of Hitsuda-Skorokhod integral for Lévy processes, Kubo-Takenaka formula for Lévy processes, and Itô formula for generalized Lévy white noise functionals.     

Quantum Lévy processes on dual groups

We present a theory of quantum (non-commutative) Lévy processes on dual groups which generalizes the theory of Lévy processes on bialgebras. It follows from a result of N. Muraki that there exist exactly 5 notions of non-commutative ‘positive’ stochastic independence. We show that one can associate a commutative bialgebra with each pair consisting of a dual group and one of the 5 notions of independence. This construction is related to a construction of U. Franz. Our construction has the advantage that the important case of free independence is included. We show that Lévy processes are given by their generators which are precisely the conditonally positive linear functionals on the dual group.Supported by the European Research Training Network “Quantum Probability with Applications to Physics, Information Theory and Biology”     

A stochastic linear–quadratic problem with Lévy processes and its application to finance

We study a Linear–Quadratic Regulation (LQR) problem with Lévy processes and establish the closeness property of the solution of the multi-dimensional Backward Stochastic Riccati Differential Equation (BSRDE) with Lévy processes. In particular, we consider multi-dimensional and one-dimensional BSRDEs with Teugel’s martingales which are more general processes driven by Lévy processes. We show the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the one-dimensional regular and singular BSRDEs with Lévy processes by means of the closeness property of the BSRDE and obtain the optimal control for the non-homogeneous case. An application of the backward stochastic differential equation approach to a financial (portfolio selection) problem with full and partial observation cases is provided.     

Lévy-Driven Carma Processes

Properties and examples of continuous-time ARMA (CARMA) processes driven by Lévy processes are examined. By allowing Lévy processes to replace Brownian motion in the definition of a Gaussian CARMA process, we obtain a much richer class of possibly heavy-tailed continuous-time stationary processes with many potential applications in finance, where such heavy tails are frequently observed in practice. If the Lévy process has finite second moments, the correlation structure of the CARMA process is the same as that of a corresponding Gaussian CARMA process. In this paper we make use of the properties of general Lévy processes to investigate CARMA processes driven by Lévy processes {W(t)} without the restriction to finite second moments. We assume only that W (1) has finite r-th absolute moment for some strictly positive r. The processes so obtained include CARMA processes with marginal symmetric stable distributions.     

Harnack inequalities for Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes driven by Lévy processes

By using the existing sharp estimates of the density function for rotationally invariant symmetric α-stable Lévy processes and rotationally invariant symmetric truncated α-stable Lévy processes, we obtain that the Harnack inequalities hold for rotationally invariant symmetric α-stable Lévy processes with α∈(0,2) and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes driven by rotationally invariant symmetric α-stable Lévy process, while the logarithmic Harnack inequalities are satisfied for rotationally invariant symmetric truncated α-stable Lévy processes.     

Votre Levy Rampe-T-IL?

The paper gives a necessary and sufficient criterion on theLévy measure that determines whether a Lévy processcreeps. (The author says that a Lévy process creeps ifit can continuously pass a fixed level.)     

The Jacobi Field of a Lévy Process

We derive an explicit formula for the Jacobi field that is acting in an extended Fock space and corresponds to an ( -valued) Lévy process on a Riemannian manifold. The support of the measure of jumps in the Lévy–Khintchine representation for the Lévy process is supposed to have an infinite number of points. We characterize the gamma, Pascal, and Meixner processes as the only Lévy process whose Jacobi field leaves the set of finite continuous elements of the extended Fock space invariant.     

Characterization of dependence of multidimensional Lévy processes using Lévy copulas

This paper suggests Lévy copulas in order to characterize the dependence among components of multidimensional Lévy processes. This concept parallels the notion of a copula on the level of Lévy measures. As for random vectors, a version of Sklar's theorem states that the law of a general multivariate Lévy process is obtained by combining arbitrary univariate Lévy processes with an arbitrary Lévy copula. We construct parametric families of Lévy copulas and prove a limit theorem, which indicates how to obtain the Lévy copula of a multivariate Lévy process X from the ordinary copula of the random vector X_t for small t.     

Continuous dependence estimates for viscosity solutions of integro-PDEs

We present a general framework for deriving continuous dependence estimates for, possibly polynomially growing, viscosity solutions of fully nonlinear degenerate parabolic integro-PDEs. We use this framework to provide explicit estimates for the continuous dependence on the coefficients and the “Lévy measure” in the Bellman/Isaacs integro-PDEs arising in stochastic control/differential games. Moreover, these explicit estimates are used to prove regularity results and rates of convergence for some singular perturbation problems. Finally, we illustrate our results on some integro-PDEs arising when attempting to price European/American options in an incomplete stock market driven by a geometric Lévy process. Many of the results obtained herein are new even in the convex case where stochastic control theory provides an alternative to our pure PDE methods.