We consider a gradual-impulse control problem of continuous-time Markov decision processes, where the system performance is measured by the expectation of the exponential utility of the total cost. We show, under natural conditions on the system primitives, the existence of a deterministic stationary optimal policy out of a more general class of policies that allow multiple simultaneous impulses, randomized selection of impulses with random effects, and accumulation of jumps. After characterizing the value function using the optimality equation, we reduce the gradual-impulse control problem to an equivalent simple discrete-time Markov decision process, whose action space is the union of the sets of gradual and impulsive actions.

We study propagation of avalanches in a certain excitable network. The model is a particular case of the one introduced by Larremore et al. (Phys. Rev. E, 2012) and is mathematically equivalent to an endemic variation of the Reed–Frost epidemic model introduced by Longini (Math. Biosci., 1980). Two types of heuristic approximation are frequently used for models of this type in applications: a branching process for avalanches of a small size at the beginning of the process and a deterministic dynamical system once the avalanche spreads to a significant fraction of a large network. In this paper we prove several results concerning the exact relation between the avalanche model and these limits, including rates of convergence and rigorous bounds for common characteristics of the model.

We study ergodic properties of a class of Markov-modulated general birth–death processes under fast regime switching. The first set of results concerns the ergodic properties of the properly scaled joint Markov process with a parameter that is taken to be large. Under very weak hypotheses, we show that if the averaged process is exponentially ergodic for large values of the parameter, then the same applies to the original joint Markov process. The second set of results concerns steady-state diffusion approximations, under the assumption that the ‘averaged’ fluid limit exists. Here, we establish convergence rates for the moments of the approximating diffusion process to those of the Markov-modulated birth–death process. This is accomplished by comparing the generator of the approximating diffusion and that of the joint Markov process. We also provide several examples which demonstrate how the theory can be applied.

In this paper an exact rejection algorithm for simulating paths of the coupled Wright–Fisher diffusion is introduced. The coupled Wright–Fisher diffusion is a family of multivariate Wright–Fisher diffusions that have drifts depending on each other through a coupling term and that find applications in the study of networks of interacting genes. The proposed rejection algorithm uses independent neutral Wright–Fisher diffusions as candidate proposals, which are only needed at a finite number of points. Once a candidate is accepted, the remainder of the path can be recovered by sampling from neutral multivariate Wright–Fisher bridges, for which an exact sampling strategy is also provided. Finally, the algorithm’s complexity is derived and its performance demonstrated in a simulation study.

In this paper we analyse the limiting conditional distribution (Yaglom limit) for stochastic fluid models (SFMs), a key class of models in the theory of matrix-analytic methods. So far, only transient and stationary analyses of SFMs have been considered in the literature. The limiting conditional distribution gives useful insights into what happens when the process has been evolving for a long time, given that its busy period has not ended yet. We derive expressions for the Yaglom limit in terms of the singularity˜$s^*$ such that the key matrix of the SFM, ${\boldsymbol{\Psi}}(s)$, is finite (exists) for all $s\geq s^*$ and infinite for $s<s^*$. We show the uniqueness of the Yaglom limit and illustrate the application of the theory with simple examples.

In this paper we consider the pricing and hedging of financial derivatives in a model-independent setting, for a trader with additional information, or beliefs, on the evolution of asset prices. In particular, we suppose that the trader wants to act in a way which is independent of any modelling assumptions, but that she observes market information in the form of the prices of vanilla call options on the asset. We also assume that both the payoff of the derivative, and the insider’s information or beliefs, which take the form of a set of impossible paths, are time-invariant. In this way we accommodate drawdown constraints, as well as information/beliefs on quadratic variation or on the levels hit by asset prices. Our setup allows us to adapt recent work of [12] to prove duality results and a monotonicity principle. This enables us to determine geometric properties of the optimal models. Moreover, for specific types of information, we provide simple conditions for the existence of consistent models for the informed agent. Finally, we provide an example where our framework allows us to compute the impact of the information on the agent’s pricing bounds.

We develop a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) approximation of one-dimensional diffusions with sticky boundary or interior points. Approximate solutions to the action of the Feynman–Kac operator associated with a sticky diffusion and first passage probabilities are obtained using matrix exponentials. We show how to compute matrix exponentials efficiently and prove that a carefully designed scheme achieves second-order convergence. We also propose a scheme based on CTMC approximation for the simulation of sticky diffusions, for which the Euler scheme may completely fail. The efficiency of our method and its advantages over alternative approaches are illustrated in the context of bond pricing in a sticky short-rate model for a low-interest environment and option pricing under a geometric Brownian motion price model with a sticky interior point.

Motivated by applications to a wide range of areas, including assemble-to-order systems, operations scheduling, healthcare systems, and the collaborative economy, we study a stochastic matching model on hypergraphs, extending the model of Mairesse and Moyal (J. Appl. Prob.53, 2016) to the case of hypergraphical (rather than graphical) matching structures. We address a discrete-event system under a random input of single items, simply using the system as an interface to be matched in groups of two or more. We primarily study the stability of this model, for various hypergraph geometries.

We derive the large-sample distribution of the number of species in a version of Kingman’s Poisson–Dirichlet model constructed from an $\alpha$ -stable subordinator but with an underlying negative binomial process instead of a Poisson process. Thus it depends on parameters $\alpha\in (0,1)$ from the subordinator and $r>0$ from the negative binomial process. The large-sample distribution of the number of species is derived as sample size $n\to\infty$ . An important component in the derivation is the introduction of a two-parameter version of the Dickman distribution, generalising the existing one-parameter version. Our analysis adds to the range of Poisson–Dirichlet-related distributions available for modeling purposes.

Queueing networks are stochastic systems formed by interconnected resources routing and serving jobs. They induce jump processes with distinctive properties, and find widespread use in inferential tasks. Here, service rates for jobs and potential bottlenecks in the routing mechanism must be estimated from a reduced set of observations. However, this calls for the derivation of complex conditional density representations, over both the stochastic network trajectories and the rates, which is considered an intractable problem. Numerical simulation procedures designed for this purpose do not scale, because of high computational costs; furthermore, variational approaches relying on approximating measures and full independence assumptions are unsuitable. In this paper, we offer a probabilistic interpretation of variational methods applied to inference tasks with queueing networks, and show that approximating measure choices routinely used with jump processes yield ill-defined optimization problems. Yet we demonstrate that it is still possible to enable a variational inferential task, by considering a novel space expansion treatment over an analogous counting process for job transitions. We present and compare exemplary use cases with practical queueing networks, showing that our framework offers an efficient and improved alternative where existing variational or numerically intensive solutions fail.

A common tool in the practice of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is to use approximating transition kernels to speed up computation when the desired kernel is slow to evaluate or is intractable. A limited set of quantitative tools exists to assess the relative accuracy and efficiency of such approximations. We derive a set of tools for such analysis based on the Hilbert space generated by the stationary distribution we intend to sample, $L_2(\pi)$. Our results apply to approximations of reversible chains which are geometrically ergodic, as is typically the case for applications to MCMC. The focus of our work is on determining whether the approximating kernel will preserve the geometric ergodicity of the exact chain, and whether the approximating stationary distribution will be close to the original stationary distribution. For reversible chains, our results extend the results of Johndrow et al. (2015) from the uniformly ergodic case to the geometrically ergodic case, under some additional regularity conditions. We then apply our results to a number of approximate MCMC algorithms.

This study presents functional limit theorems for the Euler characteristic of Vietoris–Rips complexes. The points are drawn from a nonhomogeneous Poisson process on $\mathbb{R}^d$ , and the connectivity radius governing the formation of simplices is taken as a function of the time parameter t, which allows us to treat the Euler characteristic as a stochastic process. The setting in which this takes place is that of the critical regime, in which the simplicial complexes are highly connected and have nontrivial topology. We establish two ‘functional-level’ limit theorems, a strong law of large numbers and a central limit theorem, for the appropriately normalized Euler characteristic process.

Oscillatory systems of interacting Hawkes processes with Erlang memory kernels were introduced by Ditlevsen and Löcherbach (Stoch. Process. Appl., 2017). They are piecewise deterministic Markov processes (PDMP) and can be approximated by a stochastic diffusion. In this paper, first, a strong error bound between the PDMP and the diffusion is proved. Second, moment bounds for the resulting diffusion are derived. Third, approximation schemes for the diffusion, based on the numerical splitting approach, are proposed. These schemes are proved to converge with mean-square order 1 and to preserve the properties of the diffusion, in particular the hypoellipticity, the ergodicity, and the moment bounds. Finally, the PDMP and the diffusion are compared through numerical experiments, where the PDMP is simulated with an adapted thinning procedure.

We investigate the impact of Knightian uncertainty on the optimal timing policy of an ambiguity-averse decision-maker in the case where the underlying factor dynamics follow a multidimensional Brownian motion and the exercise payoff depends on either a linear combination of the factors or the radial part of the driving factor dynamics. We present a general characterization of the value of the optimal timing policy and the worst-case measure in terms of a family of explicitly identified excessive functions generating an appropriate class of supermartingales. In line with previous findings based on linear diffusions, we find that ambiguity accelerates timing in comparison with the unambiguous setting. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that ambiguity may lead to stationarity in models which typically do not possess stationary behavior. In this way, our results indicate that ambiguity may act as a stabilizing mechanism.

A shared ledger is a record of transactions that can be updated by any member of a group of users. The notion of independent and consistent record-keeping in a shared ledger is important for blockchain and more generally for distributed ledger technologies. In this paper we analyze a stochastic model for the shared ledger known as the tangle, which was devised as the basis for the IOTA cryptocurrency. The model is a random directed acyclic graph, and its growth is described by a non-Markovian stochastic process. We first prove ergodicity of the stochastic process, and then derive a delay differential equation for the fluid model which describes the tangle at high arrival rate. We prove convergence in probability of the tangle process to the fluid model, and also prove global stability of the fluid model. The convergence proof relies on martingale techniques.

Under a fourth-order moment condition on the branching and a second-order moment condition on the immigration mechanisms, we show that an appropriately scaled projection of a supercritical and irreducible continuous-state and continuous-time branching process with immigration on certain left non-Perron eigenvectors of the branching mean matrix is asymptotically mixed normal. With an appropriate random scaling, under some conditional probability measure, we prove asymptotic normality as well. In the case of a non-trivial process, under a first-order moment condition on the immigration mechanism, we also prove the convergence of the relative frequencies of distinct types of individuals on a suitable event; for instance, if the immigration mechanism does not vanish, then this convergence holds almost surely.

Random intersection graphs model networks with communities, assuming an underlying bipartite structure of communities and individuals, where these communities may overlap. We generalize the model, allowing for arbitrary community structures within the communities. In our new model, communities may overlap, and they have their own internal structure described by arbitrary finite community graphs. Our model turns out to be tractable. We analyze the overlapping structure of the communities, show local weak convergence (including convergence of subgraph counts), and derive the asymptotic degree distribution and the local clustering coefficient.

We study the distributions of component and system lifetimes under the time-homogeneous load-sharing model, where the multivariate conditional hazard rates of working components depend only on the set of failed components, and not on their failure moments or the time elapsed from the start of system operation. Then we analyze its time-heterogeneous extension, in which the distributions of consecutive failure times, single component lifetimes, and system lifetimes coincide with mixtures of distributions of generalized order statistics. Finally we focus on some specific forms of the time-nonhomogeneous load-sharing model.

We describe a process where two types of particles, marked red and blue, arrive in a domain at a constant rate. When a new particle arrives into the domain, if there are particles of the opposite color present within a distance of 1 from the new particle, then, among these particles, it matches to the one with the earliest arrival time, and both particles are removed. Otherwise, the particle is simply added to the system. Additionally, particles may lose patience and depart at a constant rate. We study the existence of a stationary regime for this process, when the domain is either a compact space or a Euclidean space. In the compact setting, we give a product-form characterization of the stationary distribution, and then prove an FKG-type inequality that establishes certain clustering properties of the particles in the steady state.

Rough volatility is a well-established statistical stylized fact of financial assets. This property has led to the design and analysis of various new rough stochastic volatility models. However, most of these developments have been carried out in the mono-asset case. In this work, we show that some specific multivariate rough volatility models arise naturally from microstructural properties of the joint dynamics of asset prices. To do so, we use Hawkes processes to build microscopic models that accurately reproduce high-frequency cross-asset interactions and investigate their long-term scaling limits. We emphasize the relevance of our approach by providing insights on the role of microscopic features such as momentum and mean-reversion in the multidimensional price formation process. In particular, we recover classical properties of high-dimensional stock correlation matrices.