Large and moderate deviations for intersection local times

We study the large and moderate deviations for intersection local times generated by, respectively, independent Brownian local times and independent local times of symmetric random walks. Our result in the Brownian case generalizes the large deviation principle achieved in Mansmann (1991) for the L ₂-norm of Brownian local times, and coincides with the large deviation obtained by Csörgö, Shi and Yor (1991) for self intersection local times of Brownian bridges. Our approach relies on a Feynman-Kac type large deviation for Brownian occupation time, certain localization techniques from Donsker-Varadhan (1975) and Mansmann (1991), and some general methods developed along the line of probability in Banach space. Our treatment in the case of random walks also involves rescaling, spectral representation and invariance principle. The law of the iterated logarithm for intersection local times is given as an application of our deviation results.Supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0102238Supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0204513 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000):Primary: 60J55; Secondary: 60B12, 60F05, 60F10, 60F15, 60F25, 60G17, 60J65     

Dependence structure of risk factors and diversification effects

In this paper, we study the aggregated risk from dependent risk factors under the multivariate Extreme Value Theory (EVT) framework. We consider the heavy-tailedness of the risk factors as well as the non-parametric tail dependence structure. This allows a large range of models on the dependence. We assess the Value-at-Risk of a diversified portfolio constructed from dependent risk factors. Moreover, we examine the diversification effects under this setup.     

Constructing one-parameter families of elliptic curves with moderate rank

We give several new constructions for moderate rank elliptic curves over Q(T). In particular we construct infinitely many rational elliptic surfaces (not in Weierstrass form) of rank 6 over Q using polynomials of degree two in T. While our method generates linearly independent points, we are able to show the rank is exactly 6 without having to verify the points are independent. The method generalizes; however, the higher rank surfaces are not rational, and we need to check that the constructed points are linearly independent.     

The local Lehmer inequality for Drinfeld modules

We give a lower bound for the local height of a nontorsion element of a Drinfeld module.     

On the indices of curves over local fields

Fix a non-negative integer g and a positive integer I dividing 2g − 2. For any Henselian, discretely valued field K whose residue field is perfect and admits a degree I cyclic extension, we construct a curve C _/K of genus g and index I. This is obtained via a systematic analysis of local points on arithmetic surfaces with semistable reduction. Applications are discussed to the corresponding problem over number fields.     

Extensions of local fields and truncated power series

Let K be a finite tamely ramified extension of Q_p and let L/K be a totally ramified (Z/pⁿZ)-extension. Let π_L be a uniformizer for L, let σ be a generator for Gal(L/K), and let f(X) be an element of O_K[X] such that σ(π_L)=f(π_L). We show that the reduction of f(X) modulo the maximal ideal of O_K determines a certain subextension of L/K up to isomorphism. We use this result to study the field extensions generated by periodic points of a p-adic dynamical system.     

Pension fund investments and the valuation of liabilities under conditional indexation

This paper reviews the investment policy of collective pension plans. We focus on funds with a collective Defined Contribution character. We suggest two reasons to invest in equities: the lack of a well-developed market in index-linked bonds, and deliberate deviations from the Defined Benefit nature of the plan. Furthermore, this paper assesses the value of limited or conditional indexation options found in many plans.     

Portfolio adjusting optimization under credibility measures

This paper discusses portfolio adjusting problems for an existing portfolio. The returns of risky assets are regarded as fuzzy variables and a class of credibilistic mean-variance adjusting models with transaction costs are proposed on the basis of credibility theory. Under the assumption that the returns of risky assets are triangular fuzzy variables, the optimization models are converted into crisp forms. Furthermore, we employ the sequential quadratic programming method to work out the optimal strategy. Numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models and the influence of the transaction costs in portfolio selection.     

A utility-based comparison of pension funds and life insurance companies under regulatory constraints

This paper compares two different types of annuity providers, i.e. defined benefit pension funds and life insurance companies. One of the key differences is that the residual risk in pension funds is collectively borne by the beneficiaries and the sponsor’s shareholders while in the case of life insurers it is borne by the external shareholders. First, this paper employs a contingent claim approach to evaluate the risk return tradeoff for annuitants. For that, we take into account the differences in contract specifications and in regulatory regimes. Second, a welfare analysis is conducted to examine whether a consumer with power utility experiences utility gains if she chooses a defined benefit plan or a life annuity contract over a defined contribution plan. We demonstrate that regulation can be designed to support a level playing field amongst different financial institutions.     

Valuation and hedging of participating life-insurance policies under management discretion

The valuation and hedging of participating life insurance policies, also known as with-profits policies, is considered. Such policies can be seen as European path-dependent contingent claims whose underlying security is the investment portfolio of the insurance company that sold the policy. The fair valuation of these policies is studied under the assumption that the insurance company has the right to modify the investment strategy of the underlying portfolio at any time. Furthermore, it is assumed that the issuer of the policy does not setup a separate portfolio to hedge the risk associated with the policy. Instead, the issuer will use its discretion about the investment strategy of the underlying portfolio to hedge shortfall risks. In that sense, the insurer’s investment portfolio serves simultaneously as the underlying security and as the hedge portfolio. This means that the hedging problem can not be separated from the valuation problem. We investigate the relationship between risk-neutral valuation and hedging of these policies in complete and incomplete financial markets.     

Admissible metrics for line bundles on curves and abelian varieties over non-archimedean local fields

Following the approach in the archimedean case, we introduce the notion of admissible metrics for line bundles on curves and abelian varieties over non-archimedean local fields. Several properties of admissible metrics are considered and we show that this approach yields the same notion of admissible metrics over curves as doing harmonic analysis on the reduction graph of the curve. Received: 9 September 2002     

The local root number of elliptic curves with wild ramification

Let E be an elliptic curve over a number field F. The root number is conjecturally the sign of the functional equation of L-function of E/F. It is defined as the product of local signs over all places of F. The purpose of this paper is to describe this local sign by the coefficients of a Weierstra? equation of E. Received: 31 March 2000 / Revised version: 22 November 2001 / Published online: 23 May 2002     

Portfolio insurance under a risk-measure constraint

We study the problem of portfolio insurance from the point of view of a fund manager, who guarantees to the investor that the portfolio value at maturity will be above a fixed threshold. If, at maturity, the portfolio value is below the guaranteed level, a third party will refund the investor up to the guarantee. In exchange for this protection, the third party imposes a limit on the risk exposure of the fund manager, in the form of a convex monetary risk measure. The fund manager therefore tries to maximize the investor’s utility function subject to the risk-measure constraint. We give a full solution to this non-convex optimization problem in the complete market setting and show in particular that the choice of the risk measure is crucial for the optimal portfolio to exist. Explicit results are provided for the entropic risk measure (for which the optimal portfolio always exists) and for the class of spectral risk measures (for which the optimal portfolio may fail to exist in some cases).     

Optimal investment strategy to minimize the ruin probability of an insurance company under borrowing constraints

We consider that the surplus of an insurance company follows a Cramér-Lundberg process. The management has the possibility of investing part of the surplus in a risky asset. We consider that the risky asset is a stock whose price process is a geometric Brownian motion. Our aim is to find a dynamic choice of the investment policy which minimizes the ruin probability of the company. We impose that the ratio between the amount invested in the risky asset and the surplus should be smaller than a given positive bound a. For instance the case a=1 means that the management cannot borrow money to buy stocks.[Hipp, C., Plum, M., 2000. Optimal investment for insurers. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics 27, 215-228] and [Schmidli, H., 2002. On minimizing the ruin probability by investment and reinsurance. Ann. Appl. Probab. 12, 890-907] solved this problem without borrowing constraints. They found that the ratio between the amount invested in the risky asset and the surplus goes to infinity as the surplus approaches zero, so the optimal strategies of the constrained and unconstrained problems never coincide.We characterize the optimal value function as the classical solution of the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. This equation is a second-order non-linear integro-differential equation. We obtain numerical solutions for some claim-size distributions and compare our results with those of the unconstrained case.     

Completeness and compactness for varieties over a local field

This paper shows that for a local field K, a subfield k ⊂ K and a variety X over k, X is complete if and only if for every finite field extension Kʹ | K, the set X(Kʹ) is compact in its strong topology. The author likes to thank Florian Pop, Jakob Stix, Stefan Wewers, Gunther Cornelissen and his own parents for their support. Received: 13 April 2006     

Indifference pricing of pure endowments and life annuities under stochastic hazard and interest rates

We study indifference pricing of mortality contingent claims in a fully stochastic model. We assume both stochastic interest rates and stochastic hazard rates governing the population mortality. In this setting we compute the indifference price charged by an insurer that uses exponential utility and sells k contingent claims to k independent but homogeneous individuals. Throughout we focus on the examples of pure endowments and temporary life annuities. We begin with a continuous-time model where we derive the linear pdes satisfied by the indifference prices and carry out extensive comparative statics. In particular, we show that the price-per-risk grows as more contracts are sold. We then also provide a more flexible discrete-time analog that permits general hazard rate dynamics. In the latter case we construct a simulation-based algorithm for pricing general mortality-contingent claims and illustrate with a numerical example.