On Near-Optimal Mean-Field Stochastic Singular Controls: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Near-Optimality

Near-optimization is as sensible and important as optimization for both theory and applications. This paper deals with necessary and sufficient conditions for near-optimal singular stochastic controls for nonlinear controlled stochastic differential equations of mean-field type, which is also called McKean–Vlasov-type equations. The proof of our main result is based on Ekeland’s variational principle and some estimates of the state and adjoint processes. It is shown that optimal singular control may fail to exist even in simple cases, while near-optimal singular controls always exist. This justifies the use of near-optimal stochastic controls, which exist under minimal hypotheses and are sufficient in most practical cases. Moreover, since there are many near-optimal singular controls, it is possible to select among them appropriate ones that are easier for analysis and implementation. Under an additional assumptions, we prove that the near-maximum condition on the Hamiltonian function is a sufficient condition for near-optimality. This paper extends the results obtained in (Zhou, X.Y.: SIAM J. Control Optim. 36(3), 929–947, 1998) to a class of singular stochastic control problems involving stochastic differential equations of mean-field type. An example is given to illustrate the theoretical results.     

A General Stochastic Maximum Principle for SDEs of Mean-field Type

We study the optimal control for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) of mean-field type, in which the coefficients depend on the state of the solution process as well as of its expected value. Moreover, the cost functional is also of mean-field type. This makes the control problem time inconsistent in the sense that the Bellman optimality principle does not hold. For a general action space a Peng’s-type stochastic maximum principle (Peng, S.: SIAM J. Control Optim. 2(4), 966–979, 1990) is derived, specifying the necessary conditions for optimality. This maximum principle differs from the classical one in the sense that here the first order adjoint equation turns out to be a linear mean-field backward SDE, while the second order adjoint equation remains the same as in Peng’s stochastic maximum principle.     

Stochastic Control for Mean-Field Stochastic Partial Differential Equations with Jumps

We study optimal control for mean-field stochastic partial differential equations (stochastic evolution equations) driven by a Brownian motion and an independent Poisson random measure, in case of partial information control. One important novelty of our problem is represented by the introduction of general mean-field operators, acting on both the controlled state process and the control process. We first formulate a sufficient and a necessary maximum principle for this type of control. We then prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution of such general forward and backward mean-field stochastic partial differential equations. We apply our results to find the explicit optimal control for an optimal harvesting problem.     

Homogeneous Self-dual Algorithms for Stochastic Second-Order Cone Programming

Jin et al. (in J. Optim. Theory Appl. 155:1073–1083, 2012) proposed homogeneous self-dual algorithms for stochastic semidefinite programs with finite event space. In this paper, we utilize their work to derive homogeneous self-dual algorithms for stochastic second-order cone programs with finite event space. We also show how the structure in the stochastic second-order cone programming problems may be exploited so that the algorithms developed for these problems have less complexity than the algorithms developed for stochastic semidefinite programs mentioned above.     

Forward and Backward Mean-Field Stochastic Partial Differential Equation and Optimal Control

This paper is mainly concerned with the solutions to both forward and backward mean-field stochastic partial differential equation and the corresponding optimal control problem for mean-field stochastic partial differential equation. The authors first prove the continuous dependence theorems of forward and backward mean-field stochastic partial differential equations and show the existence and uniqueness of solutions to them. Then they establish necessary and sufficient optimality conditions of the control problem in the form of Pontryagin''s maximum principles. To illustrate the theoretical results, the authors apply stochastic maximum principles to study the infinite-dimensional linear-quadratic control problem of mean-field type. Further, an application to a Cauchy problem for a controlled stochastic linear PDE of mean-field type is studied.     

Stochastic maximum principle for mean-field forward-backward stochastic control system with terminal state constraints

In this paper,we consider an optimal control problem with state constraints,where the control system is described by a mean-field forward-backward stochastic differential equation(MFFBSDE,for short)and the admissible control is mean-field type.Making full use of the backward stochastic differential equation theory,we transform the original control system into an equivalent backward form,i.e.,the equations in the control system are all backward.In addition,Ekeland’s variational principle helps us deal with the state constraints so that we get a stochastic maximum principle which characterizes the necessary condition of the optimal control.We also study a stochastic linear quadratic control problem with state constraints.     

Stochastic Runge-Kutta methods with deterministic high order for ordinary differential equations

We consider embedding deterministic Runge-Kutta methods with high order into weak order stochastic Runge-Kutta (SRK) methods for non-commutative stochastic differential equations (SDEs). As a result, we have obtained weak second order SRK methods which have good properties with respect to not only practical errors but also mean square stability. In our stability analysis, as well as a scalar test equation with complex-valued parameters, we have used a multi-dimensional non-commutative test SDE. The performance of our new schemes will be shown through comparisons with an efficient and optimal weak second order scheme proposed by Debrabant and Rößler (Appl. Numer. Math. 59:582–594, 2009).     

An explicit second-order numerical scheme for mean-field forward backward stochastic differential equations

Numerical Algorithms - In this paper, we propose an explicit second-order scheme for solving decoupled mean-field forward backward stochastic differential equations. Its stability is theoretically...     

Special Issue: Optimization and Stochastic Control in Finance,Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications

In this paper, we study the near-optimal control for systems governed by forward–backward stochastic differential equations via dynamic programming principle. Since the nonsmoothness is inherent in this field, the viscosity solution approach is employed to investigate the relationships among the value function, the adjoint equations along near-optimal trajectories. Unlike the classical case, the definition of viscosity solution contains a perturbation factor, through which the illusory differentiability conditions on the value function are dispensed properly. Moreover, we establish new relationships between variational equations and adjoint equations. As an application, a kind of stochastic recursive near-optimal control problem is given to illustrate our theoretical results.     

Mean-field backward stochastic differential equations driven by G-Brownian motion and related partial differential equations

In this paper, we study mean-field backward stochastic differential equations driven by G-Brownian motion (G-BSDEs). We first obtain the existence and uniqueness theorem of these equations. In fact, we can obtain local solutions by constructing Picard contraction mapping for Y term on small interval, and the global solution can be obtained through backward iteration of local solutions. Then, a comparison theorem for this type of mean-field G-BSDE is derived. Furthermore, we establish the connection of this mean-field G-BSDE and a nonlocal partial differential equation. Finally, we give an application of mean-field G-BSDE in stochastic differential utility model.     

Mean-Field Backward Stochastic Differential Equations Driven by Fractional Brownian Motion

In this paper, we study a new class of equations called mean-field backward stochastic differential equations(BSDEs, for short) driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter H 1/2. First, the existence and uniqueness of this class of BSDEs are obtained. Second, a comparison theorem of the solutions is established. Third, as an application, we connect this class of BSDEs with a nonlocal partial differential equation(PDE, for short), and derive a relationship between the fractional mean-field BSDEs and PDEs.     

An Explicit Multistep Scheme for Mean-Field Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations

This is one of our series works on numerical methods for mean-field forward backward stochastic differential equations (MFBSDEs). In this work, we propose an explicit multistep scheme for MFBSDEs which is easy to implement, and is of high order rate of convergence. Rigorous error estimates of the proposed multistep scheme are presented. Numerical experiments are carried out to show the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed scheme.     

Backward stochastic partial differential equations with jumps and application to optimal control of random jump fields

We prove an existence and uniqueness result for a general class of backward stochastic partial differential equations (SPDE) with jumps. This is a type of equations, which appear as adjoint equations in the maximum principle approach to optimal control of systems described by SPDE driven by Lévy processes.     

A Stochastic Maximum Principle for a Markov Regime-Switching Jump-Diffusion Model with Delay and an Application to Finance

We study a stochastic optimal control problem for a delayed Markov regime-switching jump-diffusion model. We establish necessary and sufficient maximum principles under full and partial information for such a system. We prove the existence–uniqueness theorem for the adjoint equations, which are represented by an anticipated backward stochastic differential equation with jumps and regimes. We illustrate our results by a problem of optimal consumption problem from a cash flow with delay and regimes.     

A Maximum Principle for SDEs of Mean-Field Type

We study the optimal control of a stochastic differential equation (SDE) of mean-field type, where the coefficients are allowed to depend on some functional of the law as well as the state of the process. Moreover the cost functional is also of mean-field type, which makes the control problem time inconsistent in the sense that the Bellman optimality principle does not hold. Under the assumption of a convex action space a maximum principle of local form is derived, specifying the necessary conditions for optimality. These are also shown to be sufficient under additional assumptions. This maximum principle differs from the classical one, where the adjoint equation is a linear backward SDE, since here the adjoint equation turns out to be a linear mean-field backward SDE. As an illustration, we apply the result to the mean-variance portfolio selection problem.     

Max-Plus Stochastic Processes

This paper is concerned with processes which are max-plus counterparts of Markov diffusion processes governed by Ito sense stochastic differential equations. Concepts of max-plus martingale and max-plus stochastic differential equation are introduced. The max-plus counterparts of backward and forward PDEs for Markov diffusions turn out to be first-order PDEs of Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman type. Max-plus additive integrals and a max-plus additive dynamic programming principle are considered. This leads to variational inequalities of Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman type.     

A Finite Horizon Linear Quadratic Optimal Stochastic Control Problem Driven by Both Brownian Motion and L\'{e}vy Processes

We study the linear quadratic optimal stochastic control problem which is jointly driven by Brownian motion and L\'{e}vy processes. We prove that the new affine stochastic differential adjoint equation exists an inverse process by applying the profound section theorem. Applying for the Bellman's principle of quasilinearization and a monotone iterative convergence method, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the backward Riccati differential equation. Finally, we prove that the optimal feedback control exists, and the value function is composed of the initial value of the solution of the related backward Riccati differential equation and the related adjoint equation.     

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??We study the linear quadratic optimal stochastic control problem which is jointly driven by Brownian motion and L\'{e}vy processes. We prove that the new affine stochastic differential adjoint equation exists an inverse process by applying the profound section theorem. Applying for the Bellman's principle of quasilinearization and a monotone iterative convergence method, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the backward Riccati differential equation. Finally, we prove that the optimal feedback control exists, and the value function is composed of the initial value of the solution of the related backward Riccati differential equation and the related adjoint equation.     

Non-Linear Time-Advanced Backward Stochastic Partial Differential Equations With Jumps

We prove an existence and uniqueness result for non-linear time-advanced backward stochastic partial differential equations with jumps (ABSPDEJs). We then apply our results to study a time-advanced backward type of stochastic generalized porous medium equations with jumps.     

Highly Accurate Numerical Schemes for Stochastic Optimal Control via FBSDEs

This work is concerned with numerical schemes for stochastic optimal control problems (SOCPs) by means of forward backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs). We first convert the stochastic optimal control problem into an equivalent stochastic optimality system of FBSDEs. Then we design an efficient second order FBSDE solver and an quasi-Newton type optimization solver for the resulting system. It is noticed that our approach admits the second order rate of convergence even when the state equation is approximated by the Euler scheme. Several numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed numerical schemes.