Brownian functionals and applications

Hida's theory of generalized Brownian functionals is surveyed with the applications to: (1) stochastic partial differential equations, (2) Feynman integral, (3) an extension of Itô's lemma, and (4) infinite dimensional Fourier transform.This article is based on the lectures delivered at the Department of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin during July 6–10, 1981. The author is grateful to the department, especially, Professor Klaus R. Bichteler, for the invitation and the hispitality.Research supported by NSF grant MCS-8100728.     

Laplace approximation of transition densities posed as Brownian expectations

We construct the Laplace approximation of the Lebesgue density for a discrete partial observation of a multi-dimensional stochastic differential equation. This approximation may be computed integrating systems of ordinary differential equations. The construction of the Laplace approximation begins with the definition of the point of minimum energy. We show how such a point can be defined in the Cameron–Martin space as a maximum a posteriori estimate of the underlying Brownian motion given the observation of a finite-dimensional functional. The definition of the MAP estimator is possible via a renormalization of the densities of piecewise linear approximations of the Brownian motion. Using the renormalized Brownian density the Laplace approximation of the integral over all Brownian paths can be defined. The developed theory provides a method for performing approximate maximum likelihood estimation.     

On quadratic functionals of the Brownian sheet and related processes

Motivated by asymptotic problems in the theory of empirical processes, and specifically by tests of independence, we study the law of quadratic functionals of the (weighted) Brownian sheet and of the bivariate Brownian bridge on [0,1]²$[0,1{]}^2$. In particular: (i) we use Fubini-type techniques to establish identities in law with quadratic functionals of other Gaussian processes, (ii) we explicitly calculate the Laplace transform of such functionals by means of Karhunen–Loève expansions, (iii) we prove central and non-central limit theorems in the spirit of Peccati and Yor [Four limit theorems involving quadratic functionals of Brownian motion and Brownian bridge, Asymptotic Methods in Stochastics, American Mathematical Society, Fields Institute Communication Series, 2004, pp. 75–87] and Nualart and Peccati [Central limit theorems for sequences of multiple stochastic integrals, Ann. Probab. 33(1) (2005) 177–193]. Our results extend some classical computations due to Lévy [Wiener's random function and other Laplacian random functions, in: Second Berkeley Symposium in Probability and Statistics, 1950, pp. 171–186], as well as the formulae recently obtained by Deheuvels and Martynov [Karhunen–Loève expansions for weighted Wiener processes and Brownian bridges via Bessel functions, Progress in Probability, vol. 55, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2003, pp. 57–93].     

Local spectral properties of reflectionless Jacobi, CMV, and Schrödinger operators

We prove that Jacobi, CMV, and Schrödinger operators, which are reflectionless on a homogeneous set E (in the sense of Carleson), under the assumption of a Blaschke-type condition on their discrete spectra accumulating at E, have purely absolutely continuous spectrum on E.     

Nontrivial application of Nielsen theory to differential systems

In reply to a problem of Jean Leray concerning application of the Nielsen theory to differential systems for obtaining multiplicity results, we present a nontrivial example of such an application. The emphasis is on the parameter space in order to ensure that no subdomain becomes subinvariant under the related Hammerstein solution operator. To achieve this goal, we develop a general method applicable also for ordinary differential equations with or without uniqueness as well as for upper-Carathéodory differential inclusions. We are not aware that any alternative approach can be employed, even in the single-valued case.     

Brownian processes in infinite dimension

LetE be a locally convex space endowed with a centered gaussian measure . We construct a continuousE-valued brownian motionW _t with covariance . The main goal is to solve the SDE of Langevin type dX _t= dW _t–AX _t wherea andA are unbounded operators of the Cameron-Martin space of (E, ). It appears as the unique linear measurable extension of the solution of the classical Cauchy problemv(t)= u–Av(t).     

The 1-d stochastic wave equation driven by a fractional Brownian sheet

In this paper, we develop a Young integration theory in dimension 2 which will allow us to solve a non-linear one- dimensional wave equation driven by an arbitrary signal whose rectangular increments satisfy some Hölder regularity conditions, for some Hölder exponent greater than 1/2. This result will be applied to the fractional Brownian sheet.     

BSDEs under partial information and financial applications

In this paper we provide existence and uniqueness results for the solution of BSDEs driven by a general square-integrable martingale under partial information. We discuss some special cases where the solution to a BSDE under restricted information can be derived by that related to a problem of a BSDE under full information. In particular, we provide a suitable version of the Föllmer–Schweizer decomposition of a square-integrable random variable working under partial information and we use this achievement to investigate the local risk-minimization approach for a semimartingale financial market model.     

On the time inhomogeneous skew Brownian motion

This paper is devoted to the construction of a solution for the “Inhomogeneous skew Brownian motion” equation, which first appeared in a seminal paper by Sophie Weinryb, and recently, studied by Étoré and Martinez. Our method is based on the use of the Balayage formula. At the end of this paper we study a limit theorem of solutions.     

Viability for differential equations driven by fractional Brownian motion

In this paper we prove a viability result for multidimensional, time dependent, stochastic differential equations driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter , using pathwise approach. The sufficient condition is also an alternative global existence result for the fractional differential equations with restrictions on the state.     

Schilder theorem for the Brownian motion on the diffeomorphism group of the circle

We prove a large deviation principle for flows associated to stochastic differential equations with non-Lipschitz coefficients. As an application we establish a Schilder Theorem for the Brownian motion on the group of diffeomorphisms of the circle.     

Second-order BSDEs with general reflection and game options under uncertainty

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we extend the results of Matoussi et al. (2013) concerning the existence and uniqueness of second-order reflected 2BSDEs to the case of two obstacles. Under some regularity assumptions on one of the barriers, similar to the ones in Crépey and Matoussi (2008), and when the two barriers are completely separated, we provide a complete wellposedness theory for doubly reflected second-order BSDEs. We also show that these objects are related to non-standard optimal stopping games, thus generalizing the connection between DRBSDEs and Dynkin games first proved by Cvitani? and Karatzas (1996). More precisely, we show under a technical assumption that the second order DRBSDEs provide solutions of what we call uncertain Dynkin games and that they also allow us to obtain super and subhedging prices for American game options (also called Israeli options) in financial markets with volatility uncertainty.     

Unstable invariant manifolds for stochastic PDEs driven by a fractional Brownian motion

In this paper, we consider a class of stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) driven by a fractional Brownian motion (fBm) with the Hurst parameter bigger than 1/2. The existence of local random unstable manifolds is shown if the linear parts of these SPDEs are hyperbolic. For this purpose we introduce a modified Lyapunov-Perron transform, which contains stochastic integrals. By the singularities inside these integrals we obtain a special Lyapunov-Perron's approach by treating a segment of the solution over time interval [0,1] as a starting point and setting up an infinite series equation involving these segments as time evolves. Using this approach, we establish the existence of local random unstable manifolds in a tempered neighborhood of an equilibrium.     

Infinite horizon BSDEs in infinite dimensions with continuous driver and applications

This paper is devoted to forward-backward systems of stochastic differential equations in which the forward equation is not coupled to the backward one, both equations are infinite dimensional and on the time interval [0, + ∞). The forward equation defines an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, the driver of the backward equation has a linear part which is the generator of a strongly continuous, dissipative, compact semigroup, and a nonlinear part which is assumed to be continuous with linear growth. Under the assumption of equivalence of the laws of the solution to the forward equation, we prove the existence of a solution to the backward equation. We apply our results to a stochastic game problem with infinitely many players.     

A local strict comparison theorem and converse comparison theorems for reflected backward stochastic differential equations

A local strict comparison theorem and some converse comparison theorems are proved for reflected backward stochastic differential equations under suitable conditions.     

The equivalence between uniqueness and continuous dependence of solutions for FBSDEs with continuous monotone coefficients

In this paper we study one kind of coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equation. With some particular choice for the coefficients, if one of them satisfies a uniform growth condition and they are accordingly monotone, then we obtain the equivalence between the uniqueness of solution and its continuous dependence on x and ξ, where x is the initial value of the forward component and ξ is the terminal value of the backward component.     

Loss of positivity in a nonlinear scalar heat equation

Using the theory of fixed point index, we discuss the existence of nontrivial (multiple) solutions of a nonlinear scalar heat equation with nonlocal boundary conditions depending on a positive parameter. Solutions lose positivity as the parameter decreases. For a certain parameter range, not all solutions can be positive but there are positive solutions for certain types of nonlinearity. We also prove a uniqueness result.     

Explicit solutions to quadratic BSDEs and applications to utility maximization in multivariate affine stochastic volatility models

Over the past few years quadratic Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (BSDEs) have been a popular field of research. However there are only very few examples where explicit solutions for these equations are known. In this paper we consider a class of quadratic BSDEs involving affine processes and show that their solution can be reduced to solving a system of generalized Riccati ordinary differential equations. In other words we introduce a rich and flexible class of quadratic BSDEs which are analytically tractable, i.e. explicit up to the solution of an ODE. Our results also provide analytically tractable solutions to the problem of utility maximization and indifference pricing in multivariate affine stochastic volatility models. This generalizes univariate results of Kallsen and Muhle-Karbe (2010) and some results in the multivariate setting of Leippold and Trojani (2010) by establishing the full picture in the multivariate affine jump-diffusion setting. In particular we calculate the interesting quantity of the power utility indifference value of change of numeraire. Explicit examples in the Heston, Barndorff-Nielsen–Shephard and multivariate Heston setting are calculated.