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.     

Bilateral gamma distributions and processes in financial mathematics

We present a class of Lévy processes for modelling financial market fluctuations: bilateral Gamma processes. Our starting point is to explore the properties of bilateral Gamma distributions, and then we turn to their associated Lévy processes. We treat exponential Lévy stock models with an underlying bilateral Gamma process as well as term structure models driven by bilateral Gamma processes, and apply our results to a set of real financial data (DAX 1996–1998).     

BSDEs driven by time-changed Lévy noises and optimal control

We study backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) for time-changed Lévy noises when the time-change is independent of the Lévy process. We prove existence and uniqueness of the solution and we obtain an explicit formula for linear BSDEs and a comparison principle. BSDEs naturally appear in control problems. Here we prove a sufficient maximum principle for a general optimal control problem of a system driven by a time-changed Lévy noise. As an illustration we solve the mean–variance portfolio selection problem.     

Asymptotic results for time-changed Lévy processes sampled at hitting times

We provide asymptotic results for time-changed Lévy processes sampled at random instants. The sampling times are given by the first hitting times of symmetric barriers, whose distance with respect to the starting point is equal to ε. For a wide class of Lévy processes, we introduce a renormalization depending on ε, under which the Lévy process converges in law to an α-stable process as ε goes to 0. The convergence is extended to moments of hitting times and overshoots. These results can be used to build high frequency statistical procedures. As examples, we construct consistent estimators of the time change and, in the case of the CGMY process, of the Blumenthal-Getoor index. Convergence rates and a central limit theorem for suitable functionals of the increments of the observed process are established under additional assumptions.     

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.     

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.     

On the small-time behaviour of Lévy-type processes

We show some Chung-type lim inf$lim\; inf$ law of the iterated logarithm results at zero for a class of (pure-jump) Feller or Lévy-type processes. This class includes all Lévy processes. The norming function is given in terms of the symbol of the infinitesimal generator of the process. In the Lévy case, the symbol coincides with the characteristic exponent.     

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.     

Characterization of the finite variation property for a class of stationary increment infinitely divisible processes

We characterize the finite variation property for stationary increment mixed moving averages driven by infinitely divisible random measures. Such processes include fractional and moving average processes driven by Lévy processes, and also their mixtures. We establish two types of zero–one laws for the finite variation property. We also consider some examples to illustrate our results.     

Multivariate fractionally integrated CARMA processes

A multivariate analogue of the fractionally integrated continuous time autoregressive moving average (FICARMA) process defined by Brockwell [Representations of continuous-time ARMA processes, J. Appl. Probab. 41 (A) (2004) 375-382] is introduced. We show that the multivariate FICARMA process has two kernel representations: as an integral over the fractionally integrated CARMA kernel with respect to a Lévy process and as an integral over the original (not fractionally integrated) CARMA kernel with respect to the corresponding fractional Lévy process (FLP). In order to obtain the latter representation we extend FLPs to the multivariate setting. In particular we give a spectral representation of FLPs and consequently, derive a spectral representation for FICARMA processes. Moreover, various probabilistic properties of the multivariate FICARMA process are discussed. As an example we consider multivariate fractionally integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes.     

Multifractal spectra and precise rates of decay in homogeneous fragmentations

We consider a mass-conservative fragmentation of the unit interval. Motivated by a result of Berestycki [J. Berestycki, Multifractal spectra of fragmentation processes, J. Statist. Phys. 113 (3–4) (2003) 411–430], the main purpose of this work is to specify the Hausdorff dimension of the set of locations having exactly an exponential decay. The study relies on an additive martingale which arises naturally in this setting, and a class of Lévy processes constrained to stay in a finite interval.     

Sina?ˇ's condition for real valued Lévy processes

We prove that the upward ladder height subordinator H associated to a real valued Lévy process ξ has Laplace exponent φ that varies regularly at ∞ (respectively, at 0) if and only if the underlying Lévy process ξ satisfies Sina?ˇ's condition at 0 (respectively, at ∞). Sina?ˇ's condition for real valued Lévy processes is the continuous time analogue of Sina?ˇ's condition for random walks. We provide several criteria in terms of the characteristics of ξ to determine whether or not it satisfies Sina?ˇ's condition. Some of these criteria are deduced from tail estimates of the Lévy measure of H, here obtained, and which are analogous to the estimates of the tail distribution of the ladder height random variable of a random walk which are due to Veraverbeke and Grübel.     

Selfdecomposability of moving average fractional Lévy processes

We study the relationships between the selfdecomposability of marginal distributions or finite dimensional distributions of moving average fractional Lévy processes and distributions of their driving Lévy processes.     

Existence and uniqueness of stationary Lévy-driven CARMA processes

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a strictly stationary solution of the equations defining a general Lévy-driven continuous-parameter ARMA process with index set R$\mathbb{R}$ are determined. Under these conditions the solution is shown to be unique and an explicit expression is given for the process as an integral with respect to the background driving Lévy process. The results generalize results obtained earlier for second-order processes and for processes defined by the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck equation.     

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.     

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.     

Triangular array limits for continuous time random walks

A continuous time random walk (CTRW) is a random walk subordinated to a renewal process, used in physics to model anomalous diffusion. Transition densities of CTRW scaling limits solve fractional diffusion equations. This paper develops more general limit theorems, based on triangular arrays, for sequences of CTRW processes. The array elements consist of random vectors that incorporate both the random walk jump variable and the waiting time preceding that jump. The CTRW limit process consists of a vector-valued Lévy process whose time parameter is replaced by the hitting time process of a real-valued nondecreasing Lévy process (subordinator). We provide a formula for the distribution of the CTRW limit process and show that their densities solve abstract space–time diffusion equations. Applications to finance are discussed, and a density formula for the hitting time of any strictly increasing subordinator is developed.     

Local time–space stochastic calculus for Lévy processes

We develop a stochastic calculus on the plane with respect to the local times of a large class of Lévy processes. We can then extend to these Lévy processes an Itô formula that was established previously for Brownian motion. Our method provides also a multidimensional version of the formula. We show that this formula generates many “Itô formulas” that fit various problems. In the special case of a linear Brownian motion, we recover a recently established Itô formula that involves local times on curves. This formula is already used in financial mathematics.     

Tempering stable processes

A tempered stable Lévy process combines both the α$\alpha$-stable and Gaussian trends. In a short time frame it is close to an α$\alpha$-stable process while in a long time frame it approximates a Brownian motion. In this paper we consider a general and robust class of multivariate tempered stable distributions and establish their identifiable parametrization. We prove short and long time behavior of tempered stable Lévy processes and investigate their absolute continuity with respect to the underlying α$\alpha$-stable processes. We find probabilistic representations of tempered stable processes which specifically show how such processes are obtained by cutting (tempering) jumps of stable processes. These representations exhibit α$\alpha$-stable and Gaussian tendencies in tempered stable processes and thus give probabilistic intuition for their study. Such representations can also be used for simulation. We also develop the corresponding representations for Ornstein–Uhlenbeck-type processes.     

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.