On certain integral functionals of squared Bessel processes

Let $X$ be a squared Bessel process. Following a Feynman-Kac approach, the Laplace transforms of joint laws of $(U, \int_0^{R_y}X_s^p\,ds)$ are studied where $R_y$ is the first hitting time of $y$ by $X$ and $U$ is a random variable measurable with respect to the history of $X$ until $R_y$. A subset of these results are then used to solve the associated small ball problems for $\int_0^{R_y}X_s^p\,ds$ and determine a Chung's law of iterated logarithm. $(\int_0^{R_y}X_s^p\,ds)$ is also considered as a purely discontinuous increasing Markov process and its infinitesimal generator is found. The findings are then used to price a class of exotic derivatives on interest rates and determine the asymptotics for the prices of some put options that are only slightly in-the-money

Monte Carlo optimization of decentralized estimation networks over directed acyclic graphs under communication constraints

Motivated by the vision of sensor networks, we consider decentralized estimation networks over bandwidth–limited communication links, and are particularly interested in the tradeoff between the estimation accuracy and the cost of communications due to, e.g., energy consumption. We employ a class of in–network processing strategies that admits directed acyclic graph representations and yields a tractable Bayesian risk that comprises the cost of communications and estimation error penalty. This perspective captures a broad range of possibilities for processing under network constraints and enables a rigorous design problem in the form of constrained optimization. A similar scheme and the structures exhibited by the solutions have been previously studied in the context of decentralized detection. Under reasonable assumptions, the optimization can be carried out in a message passing fashion. We adopt this framework for estimation, however, the corresponding optimization scheme involves integral operators that cannot be evaluated exactly in general. We develop an approximation framework using Monte Carlo methods and obtain particle representations and approximate computational schemes for both the in–network processing strategies and their optimization. The proposed Monte Carlo optimization procedure operates in a scalable and efficient fashion and, owing to the non-parametric nature, can produce results for any distributions provided that samples can be produced from the marginals. In addition, this approach exhibits graceful degradation of the estimation accuracy asymptotically as the communication becomes more costly, through a parameterized Bayesian risk

Markovian Nash equilibrium in financial markets with asymmetric information and related forward-backward systems

This paper develops a new methodology for studying continuous-time Nash equilibrium in a financial market with asymmetrically informed agents. This approach allows us to lift the restriction of risk neutrality imposed on market makers by the current literature. It turns out that, when the market makers are risk averse, the optimal strategies of the agents are solutions of a forward-backward system of partial and stochastic differential equations. In particular, the price set by the market makers solves a nonstandard "quadratic" backward stochastic differential equation. The main result of the paper is the existence of a Markovian solution to this forward-backward system on an arbitrary time interval, which is obtained via a fixed-point argument on the space of absolutely continuous distribution functions. Moreover, the equilibrium obtained in this paper is able to explain several stylized facts which are not captured by the current asymmetric information models.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-AAP1138 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Markov bridges: SDE representation

Let $X$ be a Markov process taking values in $\mathbf{E}$ with continuous paths and transition function $(P_{s,t})$. Given a measure $\mu$ on $(\mathbf{E}, \mathscr{E})$, a Markov bridge starting at $(s,\varepsilon_x)$ and ending at $(T^*,\mu)$ for $T^* <\infty$ has the law of the original process starting at $x$ at time $s$ and conditioned to have law $\mu$ at time $T^*$. We will consider two types of conditioning: a) {\em weak conditioning} when $\mu$ is absolutely continuous with respect to $P_{s,t}(x,\cdot)$ and b) {\em strong conditioning} when $\mu=\varepsilon_z$ for some $z \in \mathbf{E}$. The main result of this paper is the representation of a Markov bridge as a solution to a stochastic differential equation (SDE) driven by a Brownian motion in a diffusion setting. Under mild conditions on the transition density of the underlying diffusion process we establish the existence and uniqueness of weak and strong solutions of this SDE.Comment: A missing reference is adde

Point process bridges and weak convergence of insider trading models

We construct explicitly a bridge process whose distribution, in its own filtration, is the same as the difference of two independent Poisson processes with the same intensity and its time 1 value satisfies a specific constraint. This construction allows us to show the existence of Glosten-Milgrom equilibrium and its associated optimal trading strategy for the insider. In the equilibrium the insider employs a mixed strategy to randomly submit two types of orders: one type trades in the same direction as noise trades while the other cancels some of the noise trades by submitting opposite orders when noise trades arrive. The construction also allows us to prove that Glosten-Milgrom equilibria converge weakly to Kyle-Back equilibrium, without the additional assumptions imposed in \textit{K. Back and S. Baruch, Econometrica, 72 (2004), pp. 433-465}, when the common intensity of the Poisson processes tends to infinity

Monte Carlo optimization approach for decentralized estimation networks under communication constraints

We consider designing decentralized estimation schemes over bandwidth limited communication links with a particular interest in the tradeoff between the estimation accuracy and the cost of communications due to, e.g., energy consumption. We take two classes of in–network processing strategies into account which yield graph representations through modeling the sensor platforms as the vertices and the communication links by edges as well as a tractable Bayesian risk that comprises the cost of transmissions and penalty for the estimation errors. This approach captures a broad range of possibilities for “online” processing of observations as well as the constraints imposed and enables a rigorous design setting in the form of a constrained optimization problem. Similar schemes as well as the structures exhibited by the solutions to the design problem has been studied previously in the context of decentralized detection. Under reasonable assumptions, the optimization can be carried out in a message passing fashion. We adopt this framework for estimation, however, the corresponding optimization schemes involve integral operators that cannot be evaluated exactly in general. We develop an approximation framework using Monte Carlo methods and obtain particle representations and approximate computational schemes for both classes of in–network processing strategies and their optimization. The proposed Monte Carlo optimization procedures operate in a scalable and efficient fashion and, owing to the non-parametric nature, can produce results for any distributions provided that samples can be produced from the marginals. In addition, this approach exhibits graceful degradation of the estimation accuracy asymptotically as the communication becomes more costly, through a parameterized Bayesian risk