Stochastic differential equation

A stochastic differential equation (SDE) is a differential equation in which one or more of the terms is a stochastic process, resulting in a solution which is also a stochastic process. SDEs have many applications throughout pure mathematics and are used to model various behaviours of stochastic models such as stock prices, random growth models or physical systems that are subjected to thermal fluctuations. SDEs have a random differential that is in the most basic case random white noise calculated as the derivative of a Brownian motion or more generally a semimartingale. However, other types of random behaviour are possible, such as jump processes like Lévy processes or semimartingales with jumps. Random differential equations are conjugate to stochastic differential equations. Stochastic differential equations can also be extended to differential manifolds. Background Stochastic differential equations originated in the theory of Brownian motion, in

The non-linear stochastic wave equation in high dimensions

Daniel Conus

The main topic of this thesis is the study of the non-linear stochastic wave equation in spatial dimension greater than 3 driven by spatially homogeneous Gaussian noise that is white in time. We are interested in questions of existence and uniqueness of solutions, as well as in properties of solutions, such as existence of high order moments and Hölder-continuity properties. The stochastic wave equation is formulated as an integral equation in which appear stochastic integrals with respect to martingale measures (in the sense of J.B. Walsh). Since, in dimensions greater than 3, the fundamental solution of the wave equation is neither a function nor a non-negative measure, but a general Schwartz distribution, we first develop an extension of the Dalang-Walsh stochastic integral that makes it possible to integrate a wide class of Schwartz distributions. This class contains the fundamental solution of the wave equation, under a hypothesis on the spectral measure of the noise that has already been used in the literature. With this extended stochastic integral, we establish existence of a square-integrable random-field solution to the non-linear stochastic wave equation in any dimension. Uniqueness of the solution is established within a specific class of processes. In the case of a fine multiplicative noise, we obtain a series representation of the solution and estimates on the p-th moments of the solution (p ≥ 1). From this, we deduce Hölder-continuity of the solution under standard assumptions. The Hölder exponent that we obtain is optimal. For the case of general multiplicative noise, we construct a framework for working with appropriate iterated stochastic integrals and then derive a truncated Itô-Taylor expansion for the solution of the stochastic wave equation. The convergence of this expansion remains an open problem, so we conclude with some remarks that suggest an Itô-Taylor series expansion for the solution.

EPFL2008

Stabilized Numerical Methods for Stochastic Differential Equations driven by Diffusion and Jump-Diffusion Processes

Adrian Blumenthal

Stochastic models that account for sudden, unforeseeable events play a crucial role in many different fields such as finance, economics, biology, chemistry, physics and so on. That kind of stochastic problems can be modeled by stochastic differential equations driven by jump-diffusion processes. In addition, there are situations, where a stochastic model is based on stochastic differential equations with multiple scales. Such stochastic problems are called stiff and lead for classical explicit integrators such as the Euler-Maruyama method to time stepsize restrictions due to stability issues. This opens the door for stabilized explicit numerical methods to efficiently tackle such situations. In this thesis we introduce first a stabilized multilevel Monte Carlo method for stiff stochastic differential equations. Using S-ROCK methods we show that this approach is very efficient for stochastic problems with multiple scales, but also for nonstiff problems with a significant noise part. Further, we present an improved version of the stabilized multilevel Monte Carlo method by considering S-ROCK methods with a higher weak order of convergence. Then we extend the S-ROCK methods to jump-diffusion processes. We study in detail the strong order of convergence of the newly introduced methods and we discuss the corresponding mean square stability domains. In the next part we present the multilevel Monte Carlo method for jump-diffusion processes. We state and prove a theorem that indicates the computational cost required to achieve a certain mean square accuracy. In the numerical section we compare the multilevel Monte Carlo approach to two variance reduction techniques, the antithetic and the control variates. We also show how the S-ROCK method for jump-diffusion processes, introduced in this thesis, can be used to create a stabilized multilevel Monte Carlo method for jump-diffusions that handles stiffness and considers the inclusion of jumps at the same time. Finally, we propose in this thesis a variable time stepping algorithm that uses S-ROCK methods to approximate weak solutions of stiff stochastic differential equations. A rigorous analytical study is carried out to derive a computable leading term of the time discretization error and an adaptive algorithm is suggested that adapts the time grid and adjusts the number of stages of the S-ROCK method simultaneously.

EPFL2015

Local Nondeterminism and Local Times of the Stochastic Wave Equation Driven by Fractional-Colored Noise

Cheuk Yin Lee

We investigate the existence and regularity of the local times of the solution to a linear system of stochastic wave equations driven by a Gaussian noise that is fractional in time and colored in space. Using Fourier analytic methods, we establish strong local nondeterminism of the solution and the existence of jointly continuous local times. We also study the differentiability and moduli of continuity of the local times and deduce some sample path properties of the solution.

SPRINGER BIRKHAUSER2022