Second order backward stochastic differential equations under a monotonicity condition

In a recent paper, Soner, Touzi and Zhang (2012) [19] have introduced a notion of second order backward stochastic differential equations (2BSDEs), which are naturally linked to a class of fully non-linear PDEs. They proved existence and uniqueness for a generator which is uniformly Lipschitz in the variables y$y$ and z$z$. The aim of this paper is to extend these results to the case of a generator satisfying a monotonicity condition in y$y$. More precisely, we prove existence and uniqueness for 2BSDEs with a generator which is Lipschitz in z$z$ and uniformly continuous with linear growth in y$y$. Moreover, we emphasize throughout the paper the major difficulties and differences due to the 2BSDE framework.     

Backward SDEs driven by Gaussian processes

In this paper we discuss existence and uniqueness results for BSDEs driven by centered Gaussian processes. Compared to the existing literature on Gaussian BSDEs, which mainly treats fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter H>1/2$H>1/2$, our main contributions are: (i) Our results cover a wide class of Gaussian processes as driving processes including fractional Brownian motion with arbitrary Hurst parameter H∈(0,1)$H\in (0,1)$; (ii) the assumptions on the generator f$f$ are mild and include e.g. the case when f$f$ has (super-)quadratic growth in z$z$; (iii) the proofs are based on transferring the problem to an auxiliary BSDE driven by a Brownian motion.     

The scaling limit of Poisson-driven order statistics with applications in geometric probability

Let _ηt${\eta }_t$ be a Poisson point process of intensity t≥1$t\ge 1$ on some state space Y$\mathbb{Y}$ and let f$f$ be a non-negative symmetric function on Y^k${\mathbb{Y}}^k$ for some k≥1$k\ge 1$. Applying f$f$ to all k$k$-tuples of distinct points of _ηt${\eta }_t$ generates a point process _ξt${\xi }_t$ on the positive real half-axis. The scaling limit of _ξt${\xi }_t$ as t$t$ tends to infinity is shown to be a Poisson point process with explicitly known intensity measure. From this, a limit theorem for the m$m$-th smallest point of _ξt${\xi }_t$ is concluded. This is strengthened by providing a rate of convergence. The technical background includes Wiener–Itô chaos decompositions and the Malliavin calculus of variations on the Poisson space as well as the Chen–Stein method for Poisson approximation. The general result is accompanied by a number of examples from geometric probability and stochastic geometry, such as k$k$-flats, random polytopes, random geometric graphs and random simplices. They are obtained by combining the general limit theorem with tools from convex and integral geometry.     

Multi-dimensional G-Brownian motion and related stochastic calculus under G-expectation

We develop a notion of nonlinear expectation–G$G$-expectation–generated by a nonlinear heat equation with infinitesimal generator G$G$. We first study multi-dimensional G$G$-normal distributions. With this nonlinear distribution we can introduce our G$G$-expectation under which the canonical process is a multi-dimensional G$G$-Brownian motion. We then establish the related stochastic calculus, especially stochastic integrals of Itô’s type with respect to our G$G$-Brownian motion, and derive the related Itô’s formula. We have also obtained the existence and uniqueness of stochastic differential equations under our G$G$-expectation.     

Backward stochastic differential equations associated to jump Markov processes and applications

In this paper we study backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) driven by the compensated random measure associated to a given pure jump Markov process X$X$ on a general state space K$K$. We apply these results to prove well-posedness of a class of nonlinear parabolic differential equations on K$K$, that generalize the Kolmogorov equation of X$X$. Finally we formulate and solve optimal control problems for Markov jump processes, relating the value function and the optimal control law to an appropriate BSDE that also allows to construct probabilistically the unique solution to the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation and to identify it with the value function.     

Pull-back morphisms for reflexive differential forms

Let f:X→Y$f:X\to Y$ be a morphism between normal complex varieties, where Y$Y$ is Kawamata log terminal. Given any differential form σ$\sigma$, defined on the smooth locus of Y$Y$, we construct a “pull-back form” on X$X$. The pull-back map obtained by this construction is _?Y${?}_Y$-linear, uniquely determined by natural universal properties and exists even in cases where the image of f$f$ is entirely contained in the singular locus of Y$Y$.     

Asymptotic average shadowing property on compact metric spaces

We prove that if for a continuous map f$f$ on a compact metric space X$X$, the chain recurrent set, R(f)$R\left(f\right)$ has more than one chain component, then f$f$ does not satisfy the asymptotic average shadowing property. We also show that if a continuous map f$f$ on a compact metric space X$X$ has the asymptotic average shadowing property and if A$A$ is an attractor for f$f$, then A$A$ is the single attractor for f$f$ and we have A=R(f)$A=R\left(f\right)$. We also study diffeomorphisms with asymptotic average shadowing property and prove that if M$M$ is a compact manifold which is not finite with dimM=2$dimM=2$, then the C¹$C^1$ interior of the set of all C¹$C^1$ diffeomorphisms with the asymptotic average shadowing property is characterized by the set of Ω$\Omega$-stable diffeomorphisms.     

On topological entropy of commuting tree maps

Let T$T$ be a tree with s$s$ ends and f,g$f,g$ be continuous maps from T$T$ to T$T$ with f°g=g°f$f°g=g°f$. In this note we show that if there exists a positive integer m≥2$m\ge 2$ such that gcd(m,l)=1$gcd(m,l)=1$ for any 2≤l≤s$2\le l\le s$ and f,g$f,g$ share a periodic point which is a km$km$-periodic point of f$f$ for some positive integer k$k$, then the topological entropy of f°g$f°g$ is positive.     

Oscillation of harmonic functions for subordinate Brownian motion and its applications

In this paper, we establish an oscillation estimate of nonnegative harmonic functions for a pure-jump subordinate Brownian motion. The infinitesimal generator of such subordinate Brownian motion is an integro-differential operator. As an application, we give a probabilistic proof of the following form of relative Fatou theorem for such subordinate Brownian motion X$X$ in a bounded κ$\kappa$-fat open set; if u$u$ is a positive harmonic function with respect to X$X$ in a bounded κ$\kappa$-fat open set D$D$ and h$h$ is a positive harmonic function in D$D$ vanishing on D^c$D^c$, then the non-tangential limit of u/h$u/h$ exists almost everywhere with respect to the Martin-representing measure of h$h$.     

Fixed point theorem for generalized Φ -pseudocontractive mappings

Let E$E$ be a real Banach space, C$C$ be a nonempty closed convex subset of E$E$ and T:C→C$T:C\to C$ be a continuous generalized Φ$\Phi$-pseudocontractive mapping. It is proved that T$T$ has a unique fixed point in C$C$.     

Weak convergence of censored and reflected stable processes

It is shown that if a sequence of open n$n$-sets _Dk$D_k$ increases to an open n$n$-set D$D$ then reflected stable processes in _Dk$D_k$ converge weakly to the reflected stable process in D$D$ for every starting point x$x$ in D$D$. The same result holds for censored α$\alpha$-stable processes for every x$x$ in D$D$ if D$D$ and _Dk$D_k$ satisfy the uniform Hardy inequality. Using the method in the proof of the above results, we also prove the weak convergence of reflected Brownian motions in unbounded domains.     

A note on Schweizer–Smital chaos

In this paper, we consider a continuous map f:X→X$f:X\to X$, where X$X$ is a compact metric space, and prove that for any positive integer N$N$, f$f$ is Schweizer–Smital chaotic if and only if f^N$f^N$ is too.     

Partial rigidity of degenerate CR embeddings into spheres

In this paper, we study degenerate CR embeddings f$f$ of a strictly pseudoconvex hypersurface M⊂Cⁿ⁺¹$M\subset {\mathbb{C}}^{n+1}$ into a sphere S$\mathbb{S}$ in a higher dimensional complex space C^N+1${\mathbb{C}}^{N+1}$. The degeneracy of the mapping f$f$ will be characterized in terms of the ranks of the CR second fundamental form and its covariant derivatives. In 2004, the author, together with X. Huang and D. Zaitsev, established a rigidity result for CR embeddings f$f$ into spheres in low codimensions. A key step in the proof of this result was to show that degenerate mappings are necessarily contained in a complex plane section of the target sphere (partial rigidity). In the 2004 paper, it was shown that if the total rank d$d$ of the second fundamental form and all of its covariant derivatives is <n$<n$ (here, n$n$ is the CR dimension of M$M$), then f(M)$f\left(M\right)$ is contained in a complex plane of dimension n+d+1$n+d+1$. The converse of this statement is also true, as is easy to see. When the total rank d$d$ exceeds n$n$, it is no longer true, in general, that f(M)$f\left(M\right)$ is contained in a complex plane of dimension n+d+1$n+d+1$, as can be seen by examples. In this paper, we carry out a systematic study of degenerate CR mappings into spheres. We show that when the ranks of the second fundamental form and its covariant derivatives exceed the CR dimension n$n$, then partial rigidity may still persist, but there is a “defect” k$k$ that arises from the ranks exceeding n$n$ such that f(M)$f\left(M\right)$ is only contained in a complex plane of dimension n+d+k+1$n+d+k+1$. Moreover, this defect occurs in general, as is illustrated by examples.     

A short proof of the Doob–Meyer theorem

Every submartingale S$S$ of class D$D$ has a unique Doob–Meyer decomposition S=M+A$S=M+A$, where M$M$ is a martingale and A$A$ is a predictable increasing process starting at 0.     

Smale’s point estimate theory for Newton’s method on Lie groups

We introduce the notion of the (one-parameter subgroup) γ$\gamma$-condition for a map f$f$ from a Lie group to its Lie algebra and establish α$\alpha$-theory and γ$\gamma$-theory for Newton’s method for a map f$f$ satisfying this condition. Applications to analytic maps are provided, and Smale’s α$\alpha$-theory and γ$\gamma$-theory are extended and developed. Examples arising from initial value problems on Lie group are presented to illustrate applications of our results.     

Global inversion theorems via coercive functionals on metric spaces

Let X$X$ and Y$Y$ be metric spaces. We give sufficient metric conditions for a local homeomorphism f:X→Y$f:X\to Y$ to be a global one. We achieve this by means of auxiliary coercive functionals; several expected global inversion theorems are obtained by choosing different functionals.