Local time–space stochastic calculus for Lévy processes

We develop a stochastic calculus on the plane with respect to the local times of a large class of Lévy processes. We can then extend to these Lévy processes an Itô formula that was established previously for Brownian motion. Our method provides also a multidimensional version of the formula. We show that this formula generates many “Itô formulas” that fit various problems. In the special case of a linear Brownian motion, we recover a recently established Itô formula that involves local times on curves. This formula is already used in financial mathematics.     

The asymptotic behaviour of local times and occupation integrals of theN-parameter Wiener process in R d

Summary LetL(x, T),xR ^d ,TR ₊ ^N , be the local time of theN-parameter Wiener processW taking values inR ^d . Even in the distribution valued casedd2N,L can be described in a series representation by means of multiple Wiener-Ito integrals. This setting proves to be a good starting point for the investigation of the asymptotic behaviour ofL(x, T) as |x|0 and/orT and of related occupation integrals asT. We obtain the rates of explosion in laws of the first order, i.e. normalized convergence laws forL(x, T) resp.X _T (f), and of the second order, i.e. normalized convergence laws forL(x, T)–E(L(x, T)) resp.X _T (f)–E(X _T (f)).This research was made during a stay at the LMU in München supported by DAAD     

Central limit theorems for multiple stochastic integrals and Malliavin calculus

We give a new characterization for the convergence in distribution to a standard normal law of a sequence of multiple stochastic integrals of a fixed order with variance one, in terms of the Malliavin derivatives of the sequence. We also give a new proof of the main theorem in [D. Nualart, G. Peccati, Central limit theorems for sequences of multiple stochastic integrals, Ann. Probab. 33 (2005) 177–193] using techniques of Malliavin calculus. Finally, we extend our result to the multidimensional case and prove a weak convergence result for a sequence of square integrable random vectors, giving an application.     

Characterization of a regular family of semimartingales by line integrals

A characterization of a regular family of semimatingales as a maximal fasmily of processes with respect of which one can define a stochastic line integral with natural continuity properties is given.     

Weak Dirichlet processes with a stochastic control perspective

The motivation of this paper is to prove verification theorems for stochastic optimal control of finite dimensional diffusion processes without control in the diffusion term, in the case where the value function is assumed to be continuous in time and once differentiable in the space variable (C^0,1$C^{0,1}$) instead of once differentiable in time and twice in space (C^1,2$C^{1,2}$), like in the classical results. For this purpose, the replacement tool of the Itô formula will be the Fukushima–Dirichlet decomposition for weak Dirichlet processes. Given a fixed filtration, a weak Dirichlet process is the sum of a local martingale M$M$ plus an adapted process A$A$ which is orthogonal, in the sense of covariation, to any continuous local martingale. The decomposition mentioned states that a C^0,1$C^{0,1}$ function of a weak Dirichlet process with finite quadratic variation is again a weak Dirichlet process. That result is established in this paper and it is applied to the strong solution of a Cauchy problem with final condition.     

Study of dependence for some stochastic processes: Symbolic Markov copulae

We study dependence between components of multivariate (nice Feller) Markov processes: what conditions need to be satisfied by a multivariate Markov process so that its components are Markovian with respect to the filtration of the entire process and such that they follow prescribed laws? To answer this question, we introduce a symbolic approach, which is rooted in the concept of pseudo-differential operator (PDO). We investigate connections between dependence, in the sense described above, and the PDOs. In particular, we study the problem of constructing a multivariate nice Feller process with given marginal laws in terms of symbols of the related PDOs. This approach leads to relatively simple conditions, which provide solutions to this problem.     

Approximation via regularization of the local time of semimartingales and Brownian motion

Through a regularization procedure, a few schemes for approximation of the local time of a large class of continuous semimartingales and reversible diffusions are given. The convergence holds in the ucp sense. In the case of standard Brownian motion, we have been able to bound the rate of convergence in L²$L^2$, and to establish the a.s. convergence of some of our schemes.     

Two Brownian particles with rank-based characteristics and skew-elastic collisions

We construct a two-dimensional diffusion process with rank-dependent local drift and dispersion coëfficients, and with a full range of patterns of behavior upon collision that range from totally frictionless interaction, to elastic collision, to perfect reflection of one particle on the other. These interactions are governed by the left- and right-local times at the origin for the distance between the two particles. We realize this diffusion in terms of appropriate, apparently novel systems of stochastic differential equations involving local times, which we show are well posed. Questions of pathwise uniqueness and strength are also discussed for these systems.     

Martingale solutions and Markov selection of stochastic 3D Navier-Stokes equations with jump

In this paper, we study the existence of martingale solutions of stochastic 3D Navier-Stokes equations with jump, and following Flandoli and Romito (2008) [7] and Goldys et al. (2009) [8], we prove the existence of Markov selections for the martingale solutions.     

Invariance principles for stochastic area and related stochastic integrals

Given an antisymmetric kernel K (K(z, z′) = ?K(z′, z)) and i.i.d. random variates Z_n, n?1, such that EK²(Z₁, Z₂)<∞, set A_n = ∑₁?i?j?nK(Z_i,Z_j), n?1. If the Z_n's are two-dimensional and K is the determinant function, A_n is a discrete analogue of Paul Lévy's so-called stochastic area. Using a general functional central limit theorem for stochastic integrals, we obtain limit theorems for the A_n's which mirror the corresponding results for the symmetric kernels that figure in theory of U-statistics.     

Algebraic polynomials and moments of stochastic integrals

We propose an algebraic method for proving estimates on moments of stochastic integrals. The method uses qualitative properties of roots of algebraic polynomials from certain general classes. As an application, we give a new proof of a variation of the Burkholder-Davis-Gundy inequality for the case of stochastic integrals with respect to real locally square integrable martingales. Further possible applications and extensions of the method are outlined.     

Comparison inequalities on Wiener space

We define a covariance-type operator on Wiener space: for F$F$ and G$G$ two random variables in the Gross–Sobolev space D^1,2${\mathbb{D}}^{1,2}$ of random variables with a square-integrable Malliavin derivative, we let _ΓF,G?〈DF,−DL⁻¹G〉${\Gamma }_{F,G}?〈{DF,-DL}^{-1}G〉$, where D$D$ is the Malliavin derivative operator and L⁻¹$L^{-1}$ is the pseudo-inverse of the generator of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck semigroup. We use Γ$\Gamma$ to extend the notion of covariance and canonical metric for vectors and random fields on Wiener space, and prove corresponding non-Gaussian comparison inequalities on Wiener space, which extend the Sudakov–Fernique result on comparison of expected suprema of Gaussian fields, and the Slepian inequality for functionals of Gaussian vectors. These results are proved using a so-called smart-path method on Wiener space, and are illustrated via various examples. We also illustrate the use of the same method by proving a Sherrington–Kirkpatrick universality result for spin systems in correlated and non-stationary non-Gaussian random media.     

Generalized stochastic evolution equations

An approach to generalized stochastic evolution equations is presented which is based on a generalized Ito formula. This allows the consideration of interesting examples which are stochastic generalizations of evolution equations of mixed type or second order in time hyperbolic equations. It includes more standard material involving a Gelfand triple of spaces as a special case. Several examples are given which illustrate the use of the abstract theory presented.     

Covariance of stochastic integrals with respect to fractional Brownian motion

We find an explicit expression for the cross-covariance between stochastic integral processes with respect to a $d$-dimensional fractional Brownian motion (fBm) $B_t$ with Hurst parameter $H>\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\right.$, where the integrands are vector fields applied to $B_t$. It provides, for example, a direct alternative proof of Y. Hu and D. Nualart’s result that the stochastic integral component in the fractional Bessel process decomposition is not itself a fractional Brownian motion.     

On the Gaussian approximation of vector-valued multiple integrals

By combining the findings of two recent, seminal papers by Nualart, Peccati and Tudor, we get that the convergence in law of any sequence of vector-valued multiple integrals F_n towards a centered Gaussian random vector N, with given covariance matrix C, is reduced to just the convergence of: (i) the fourth cumulant of each component of F_n to zero; (ii) the covariance matrix of F_n to C. The aim of this paper is to understand more deeply this somewhat surprising phenomenon. To reach this goal, we offer two results of a different nature. The first one is an explicit bound for d(F,N) in terms of the fourth cumulants of the components of F, when F is a R^d-valued random vector whose components are multiple integrals of possibly different orders, N is the Gaussian counterpart of F (that is, a Gaussian centered vector sharing the same covariance with F) and d stands for the Wasserstein distance. The second one is a new expression for the cumulants of F as above, from which it is easy to derive yet another proof of the previously quoted result by Nualart, Peccati and Tudor.     

Uniqueness and absolute continuity of weak solutions for parabolic SPDE's

The paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for the absolute continuity of measures generated by infinite-dimensional martingale problems. This result is applied to the study of the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to nonlinear parabolic SPDE's. The paper also addresses the problem of stochastic integration with respect to a martingale in a quasi-complete locally convex topological vector space.This work was partially supported by NSF Grant # DMS-9002997 and ONR Grant # N00014-91-J-1526.     

The joint law of the maximum and terminal value of a martingale

Summary In this paper, we characterise the possible joint laws of the maximum and terminal value of a uniformly-integrable martingale. We also characterise the joint laws of the maximum and terminal value of a convergent continuous local martingale vanishing at zero. A number of earlier results on the possible laws of the maximum can be deduced quite easily.     

Local times of stochastic processes with positive definite bivariate densities

A new class of stochastic processes, called processes of positive bivariate type, is defined. Such a process is typically one whose bivariate density functions are positive definite, at least for pairs of time points which are sufficiently mutually close. The class includes stationary Gaussian processes and stationary reversible Markov processes, and is closed under the operations of composition and convolution. The purpose of this work is to show that the local times of such processes can be investigated in a natural way. One of the main contributions is an orthogonal expansion of the local time which is new even in the well-studied stationary Gaussian case. The basic tool in its construction is the Lancaster-Sarmanov expansion of a bivariate density in a series of canonical correlations and canonical variables.