An Approximation for the Zakai Equation

In this article we consider a polygonal approximation to the unnormalized conditional measure of a filtering problem, which is the solution of the Zakai stochastic differential equation on measure space. An estimate of the convergence rate based on a distance which is equivalent to the weak convergence topology is derived. We also study the density of the unnormalized conditional measure, which is the solution of the Zakai stochastic partial differential equation. An estimate of the convergence rate is also given in this case. 60F25, 60H10.} Accepted 23 April 2001. Online publication 14 August 2001.     

The Filtering Equations of Forward-Backward Stochastic Systems with Random Jumps and Applications to Partial Information Stochastic Optimal Control

In this article, we consider a filtering problem for forward-backward stochastic systems that are driven by Brownian motions and Poisson processes. This kind of filtering problem arises from the study of partially observable stochastic linear-quadratic control problems. Combining forward-backward stochastic differential equation theory with certain classical filtering techniques, the desired filtering equation is established. To illustrate the filtering theory, the theoretical result is applied to solve a partially observable linear-quadratic control problem, where an explicit observable optimal control is determined by the optimal filtering estimation.     

A sequential data assimilation method based on the properties of a diffusion-type process

Data assimilation method, as commonly used in numerical ocean and atmospheric circulation models, produces an estimation of state variables in terms of stochastic processes. This estimation is based on limit properties of a diffusion-type process which follows from the convergence of a sequence of Markov chains with jumps. The conditions for this convergence are investigated. The optimisation problem and the optimal filtering problem associated with the search of the best possible approximation of the true state variable are posed and solved. The results of a simple numerical experiment are discussed. It is shown that the proposed data assimilation method works properly and can be used in practical applications, particularly in meteorology and oceanography.     

A Stochastic Filtering Approach To Survival Analysis

We connect some basic issues in survival analysis in biostatistics with estimation and convergence theories in stochastic filtering. Viewing censored data problems through a filtering perspective, we can derive estimators expressed using stochastic integral/differential equations. We then study statistical asymptotic using convergence theory of stochastic equations. We illustrate the effectiveness of such a program by revisiting the right censored and the doubly censored data problems.     

Power utility maximization under partial information: Some convergence results

In this paper we consider the power utility maximization problem under partial information in a continuous semimartingale setting. Investors construct their strategies using the available information, which possibly may not even include the observation of the asset prices. Resorting to stochastic filtering, the problem is transformed into an equivalent one, which is formulated in terms of observable processes. The value process, related to the equivalent optimization problem, is then characterized as the unique bounded solution of a semimartingale backward stochastic differential equation (BSDE). This yields a unified characterization for the value process related to the power and exponential utility maximization problems, the latter arising as a particular case. The convergence of the corresponding optimal strategies is obtained by means of BSDEs. Finally, we study some particular cases where the value process admits an explicit expression.     

L<Superscript>1</Superscript>-convergence of smoothing densities in non-parametric state space models

This paper addresses the problem of reconstructing partially observed stochastic processes. The L¹ convergence of the filtering and smoothing densities in state space models is studied, when the transition and emission densities are estimated using non parametric kernel estimates. An application to real data is proposed, in which a wave time series is forecasted given a wind time series. Valérie Monbet—supported by IFREMER, Brest, France.     

Estimation of stochastic volatility in the Hull-White model

Estimation of the stochastic volatility in the Hull-White framework is considered. Stock price is taken as the observation and the estimation problem is posed for the stochastic volatility. It is first shown that it is not possible to formulate this as the usual filtering problem, and an alternative formulation is proposed. A robust filtering equation is then derived suitable for real observation data.     

Penalty method for solving a class of stochastic differential variational inequalities with an application

The aim of this paper is to study the penalty method for solving a class of stochastic differential variational inequalities (SDVIs). The penalty problem for solving SDVIs is first constructed and the convergence of the sequences generated by the penalty problem is proved under some mild conditions. As an application, the convergence of the sequences generated by the penalty problem is obtained for solving a stochastic migration equilibrium problem with movement cost.     

Kalman-Bucy filtering equations of forward and backward stochastic systems and applications to recursive optimal control problems

This paper is concerned with Kalman-Bucy filtering problems of a forward and backward stochastic system which is a Hamiltonian system arising from a stochastic optimal control problem. There are two main contributions worthy pointing out. One is that we obtain the Kalman-Bucy filtering equation of a forward and backward stochastic system and study a kind of stability of the aforementioned filtering equation. The other is that we develop a backward separation technique, which is different to Wonham's separation theorem, to study a partially observed recursive optimal control problem. This new technique can also cover some more general situation such as a partially observed linear quadratic non-zero sum differential game problem is solved by it. We also give a simple formula to estimate the information value which is the difference of the optimal cost functionals between the partial and the full observable information cases.     

Nonlinear filtering for jump-diffusions

The paper treats the nonlinear filtering problem for jump-diffusion processes. The optimal filter is derived for a stochastic system where the dynamics of the signal variable is described by a jump-diffusion equation. The optimal filter is described by stochastic integral equations.     

Uniform exponential convergence of sample average random functions under general sampling with applications in stochastic programming

Sample average approximation (SAA) is one of the most popular methods for solving stochastic optimization and equilibrium problems. Research on SAA has been mostly focused on the case when sampling is independent and identically distributed (iid) with exceptions (Dai et al. (2000) [9], Homem-de-Mello (2008) [16]). In this paper we study SAA with general sampling (including iid sampling and non-iid sampling) for solving nonsmooth stochastic optimization problems, stochastic Nash equilibrium problems and stochastic generalized equations. To this end, we first derive the uniform exponential convergence of the sample average of a class of lower semicontinuous random functions and then apply it to a nonsmooth stochastic minimization problem. Exponential convergence of estimators of both optimal solutions and M-stationary points (characterized by Mordukhovich limiting subgradients (Mordukhovich (2006) [23], Rockafellar and Wets (1998) [32])) are established under mild conditions. We also use the unform convergence result to establish the exponential rate of convergence of statistical estimators of a stochastic Nash equilibrium problem and estimators of the solutions to a stochastic generalized equation problem.     

Solving approximately an optimal nonlinear filtering problem for stochastic differential systems by statistical modeling

An algorithm for solving an optimal nonlinear filtering problem by statistical modeling is proposed. It is based on reducing the filtration problem to an analysis of stochastic systems with terminating and branching paths using the fact that the Duncan-Mortensen-Zakai equations and the generalized Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equation are similar in structure. This problem of analysis can be solved approximately by numerical methods for solving stochastic differential equations and modeling inhomogeneous Poisson flows.     

On the Convergence of Coderivative of SAA Solution Mapping for a Parametric Stochastic Variational Inequality

The aim of this paper is to investigate the convergence properties for Mordukhovich’s coderivative of the solution map of the sample average approximation (SAA) problem for a parametric stochastic variational inequality with equality and inequality constraints. The notion of integrated deviation is introduced to characterize the outer limit of a sequence of sets. It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, both the cosmic deviation and the integrated deviation between the coderivative of the solution mapping to SAA problem and that of the solution mapping to the parametric stochastic variational inequality converge almost surely to zero as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, the exponential convergence rate of coderivatives of the solution maps to the SAA parametric stochastic variational inequality is established. The results are used to develop sufficient conditions for the consistency of the Lipschitz-like property of the solution map of SAA problem and the consistency of stationary points of the SAA estimator for a stochastic bilevel program.     

Filtering Problem for Discrete Volterra Equations with Combined Disturbances

Abstract

A minimax filtering problem for discrete Volterra equations with combined noise models is considered. The combined models are defined as the sums of uncertain bounded deterministic functions and stochastic white noises. However, the corresponding variational problem turns out to be very difficult for direct solution. Therefore, simplified filtering algorithms are developed. The levels of nonoptimality for these simplified algorithms are introduced as the ratios of the filtering performances for the simplified and optimal estimators.

In opposite to the original variational problem, these levels can be easily evaluated numerically. Thus, simple filtering algorithms with guaranteed performance are obtained. Numerical experiments confirm the efficiency of our approach.     

Solving parabolic Wick-stochastic boundary value problems using a finite element method

A class of linear parabolic stochastic boundary value problems of Wick-type is studied. The equations are understood in a weak sense on a suitable stochastic distribution space, and existence and uniqueness results are provided. The paper continues to discuss a numerical method for this type of problem, based on a Galerkin type of approximation. Estimates showing linear convergence in time and space are derived, and rate of convergence results for the stochastic dimension are reported.     

On the ERM formulation and a stochastic approximation algorithm of the stochastic-R_0 EVLCP

In this paper, a class of stochastic extended vertical linear complementarity problems is studied as an extension of the stochastic linear complementarity problem. The expected residual minimization (ERM) formulation of this stochastic extended vertical complementarity problem is proposed based on an NCP function. We study the corresponding properties of the ERM problem, such as existence of solutions, coercive property and differentiability. Finally, we propose a descent stochastic approximation method for solving this problem. A comprehensive convergence analysis is given. A number of test examples are constructed and the numerical results are presented.     

A combined direction stochastic approximation algorithm

The stochastic approximation problem is to find some root or minimum of a nonlinear function in the presence of noisy measurements. The classical algorithm for stochastic approximation problem is the Robbins-Monro (RM) algorithm, which uses the noisy negative gradient direction as the iterative direction. In order to accelerate the classical RM algorithm, this paper gives a new combined direction stochastic approximation algorithm which employs a weighted combination of the current noisy negative gradient and some former noisy negative gradient as iterative direction. Both the almost sure convergence and the asymptotic rate of convergence of the new algorithm are established. Numerical experiments show that the new algorithm outperforms the classical RM algorithm.     

Stochastic Vorticity and Associated Filtering Theory

The focus of this work is on a two-dimensional stochastic vorticity equation for an incompressible homogeneous viscous fluid. We consider a signed measure-valued stochastic partial differential equation for a vorticity process based on the Skorohod--Ito evolution of a system of N randomly moving point vortices. A nonlinear filtering problem associated with the evolution of the vorticity is considered and a corresponding Fujisaki--Kallianpur--Kunita stochastic differential equation for the optimal filter is derived.     

On the Convergence of Coderivative of SAA Solution Mapping for a Parametric Stochastic Generalized Equation

The aim of this paper is to investigate the convergence properties for Mordukhovich’s coderivative of the solution map of the sample average approximation (SAA) problem for a parametric stochastic generalized equation. It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, both the cosmic deviation and the ρ-deviation between the coderivative of the solution mapping to SAA problem and that of the solution mapping to the parametric stochastic generalized equation converge almost surely to zero as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, the exponential convergence rate of coderivatives of the solution maps to the SAA parametric generalized equations is established. The results are used to develop sufficient conditions for the consistency of the Lipschitz-like property of the solution map of SAA problem and the consistency of stationary points of the SAA estimator for a stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints.