On the asymptotic behaviour of Lévy processes,Part I: Subexponential and exponential processes

We study tail probabilities of the suprema of Lévy processes with subexponential or exponential marginal distributions over compact intervals. Several of the processes for which the asymptotics are studied here for the first time have recently become important to model financial time series. Hence our results should be important, for example, in the assessment of financial risk.     

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.     

Randomly weighted self-normalized Lévy processes

Let (_Ut,_Vt)$(U_t,V_t)$ be a bivariate Lévy process, where _Vt$V_t$ is a subordinator and _Ut$U_t$ is a Lévy process formed by randomly weighting each jump of _Vt$V_t$ by an independent random variable _Xt$X_t$ having cdf F$F$. We investigate the asymptotic distribution of the self-normalized Lévy process _Ut/_Vt$U_t/V_t$ at 0 and at ∞$\infty$. We show that all subsequential limits of this ratio at 0 (∞$\infty$) are continuous for any nondegenerate F$F$ with finite expectation if and only if _Vt$V_t$ belongs to the centered Feller class at 0 (∞$\infty$). We also characterize when _Ut/_Vt$U_t/V_t$ has a non-degenerate limit distribution at 0 and ∞$\infty$.     

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.     

Exponential functional of a new family of Lévy processes and self-similar continuous state branching processes with immigration

We first introduce and derive some basic properties of a two-parameters (α,γ) family of one-sided Lévy processes, with 1<α<2 and γ>−α. Their Laplace exponents are given in terms of the Pochhammer symbol as follows

     

White noise analysis for Lévy processes

We construct a white noise theory for Lévy processes. The starting point of this theory is a chaos expansion for square integrable random variables. We use this approach to Malliavin calculus to prove the following white noise generalization of the Clark-Haussmann-Ocone formula for Lévy processes

     

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.     

Transition density estimates for jump Lévy processes

Upper estimates of densities of convolution semigroups of probability measures are given under explicit assumptions on the corresponding Lévy measure and the Lévy-Khinchin exponent.     

Convergence to Lévy stable processes under some weak dependence conditions

For a strictly stationary sequence of random vectors in R^d${\mathbb{R}}^d$ we study convergence of partial sum processes to a Lévy stable process in the Skorohod space with _J1$J_1$-topology. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for such convergence and provide sufficient conditions when the stationary sequence is strongly mixing.     

The set-indexed Lévy process: Stationarity,Markov and sample paths properties

We present a satisfactory definition of the important class of Lévy processes indexed by a general collection of sets. We use a new definition for increment stationarity of set-indexed processes to obtain different characterizations of this class. As an example, the set-indexed compound Poisson process is introduced. The set-indexed Lévy process is characterized by infinitely divisible laws and a Lévy–Khintchine representation. Moreover, the following concepts are discussed: projections on flows, Markov properties, and pointwise continuity. Finally the study of sample paths leads to a Lévy–Itô decomposition. As a corollary, the semi-martingale property is proved.     

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.     

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.     

Characterization of infinite divisibility by duality formulas. Application to Lévy processes and random measures

Processes with independent increments are proven to be the unique solutions of duality formulas. This result is based on a simple characterization of infinitely divisible random vectors by a functional equation in which a difference operator appears. This operator is constructed by a variational method and compared to approaches involving chaos decompositions. We also obtain a related characterization of infinitely divisible random measures.     

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.     

Stitching pairs of Lévy processes into harnesses

We consider natural exponential families of Lévy processes with randomized parameter. Such processes are Markov, and under suitable assumptions, pairs of such processes with shared randomization can be “stitched together” into a single harness. The stitching consists of deterministic reparametrization of the time for both processes, so that they run on adjacent time intervals, and of the choice of the appropriate law at the boundary.     

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.     

Constructing hierarchical Archimedean copulas with Lévy subordinators

A probabilistic interpretation for hierarchical Archimedean copulas based on Lévy subordinators is given. Independent exponential random variables are divided by group-specific Lévy subordinators which are evaluated at a common random time. The resulting random vector has a hierarchical Archimedean survival copula. This approach suggests an efficient sampling algorithm and allows one to easily construct several new parametric families of hierarchical Archimedean copulas.