This book presents the texts of seminars presented during the years 1995 and 1996 at the Université Paris VI and is the first attempt to present a survey on this subject. Starting from the classical conditions for existence and unicity of a solution in the most simple case-which requires more than basic stochartic calculus-several refinements on the hypotheses are introduced to obtain more general results.

This volume is a survey/monograph on the recently developed theory of forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs). Basic techniques such as the method of optimal control, the 'Four Step Scheme', and the method of continuation are presented in full. Related topics such as backward stochastic PDEs and many applications of FBSDEs are also discussed in detail. The volume is suitable for readers with basic knowledge of stochastic differential equations, and some exposure to the stochastic control theory and PDEs. It can be used for researchers and/or senior graduate students in the areas of probability, control theory, mathematical finance, and other related fields.

This book provides a systematic and accessible approach to stochastic differential equations, backward stochastic differential equations, and their connection with partial differential equations, as well as the recent development of the fully nonlinear theory, including nonlinear expectation, second order backward stochastic differential equations, and path dependent partial differential equations. Their main applications and numerical algorithms, as well as many exercises, are included. The book focuses on ideas and clarity, with most results having been solved from scratch and most theories being motivated from applications. It can be considered a starting point for junior researchers in the field, and can serve as a textbook for a two-semester graduate course in probability theory and stochastic analysis. It is also accessible for graduate students majoring in financial engineering.

Backward stochastic differential equations with jumps can be used to solve problems in both finance and insurance. Part I of this book presents the theory of BSDEs with Lipschitz generators driven by a Brownian motion and a compensated random measure, with an emphasis on those generated by step processes and Lévy processes. It discusses key results and techniques (including numerical algorithms) for BSDEs with jumps and studies filtration-consistent nonlinear expectations and g-expectations. Part I also focuses on the mathematical tools and proofs which are crucial for understanding the theory. Part II investigates actuarial and financial applications of BSDEs with jumps. It considers a general financial and insurance model and deals with pricing and hedging of insurance equity-linked claims and asset-liability management problems. It additionally investigates perfect hedging, superhedging, quadratic optimization, utility maximization, indifference pricing, ambiguity risk minimization, no-good-deal pricing and dynamic risk measures. Part III presents some other useful classes of BSDEs and their applications. This book will make BSDEs more accessible to those who are interested in applying these equations to actuarial and financial problems. It will be beneficial to students and researchers in mathematical finance, risk measures, portfolio optimization as well as actuarial practitioners.

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are a powerful tool in science, mathematics, economics and finance. This book will help the reader to master the basic theory and learn some applications of SDEs. In particular, the reader will be provided with the backward SDE technique for use in research when considering financial problems in the market, and with the reflecting SDE technique to enable study of optimal stochastic population control problems. These two techniques are powerful and efficient, and can also be applied to research in many other problems in nature, science and elsewhere.

This research monograph presents results to researchers in stochastic calculus, forward and backward stochastic differential equations, connections between diffusion processes and second order partial differential equations (PDEs), and financial mathematics. It pays special attention to the relations between SDEs/BSDEs and second order PDEs under minimal regularity assumptions, and also extends those results to equations with multivalued coefficients. The authors present in particular the theory of reflected SDEs in the above mentioned framework and include exercises at the end of each chapter. Stochastic calculus and stochastic differential equations (SDEs) were first introduced by K. Itô in the 1940s, in order to construct the path of diffusion processes (which are continuous time Markov processes with continuous trajectories taking their values in a finite dimensional vector space or manifold), which had been studied from a more analytic point of view by Kolmogorov in the 1930s. Since then, this topic has become an important subject of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, because of its mathematical richness and its importance for applications in many areas of Physics, Biology, Economics and Finance, where random processes play an increasingly important role. One important aspect is the connection between diffusion processes and linear partial differential equations of second order, which is in particular the basis for Monte Carlo numerical methods for linear PDEs. Since the pioneering work of Peng and Pardoux in the early 1990s, a new type of SDEs called backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) has emerged. The two main reasons why this new class of equations is important are the connection between BSDEs and semilinear PDEs, and the fact that BSDEs constitute a natural generalization of the famous Black and Scholes model from Mathematical Finance, and thus offer a natural mathematical framework for the formulation of many new models in Finance.

Numerical Methods in Finance describes a wide variety of numerical methods used in financial analysis.

This is the first book to systematically present control theory for stochastic distributed parameter systems, a comparatively new branch of mathematical control theory. The new phenomena and difficulties arising in the study of controllability and optimal control problems for this type of system are explained in detail. Interestingly enough, one has to develop new mathematical tools to solve some problems in this field, such as the global Carleman estimate for stochastic partial differential equations and the stochastic transposition method for backward stochastic evolution equations. In a certain sense, the stochastic distributed parameter control system is the most general control system in the context of classical physics. Accordingly, studying this field may also yield valuable insights into quantum control systems. A basic grasp of functional analysis, partial differential equations, and control theory for deterministic systems is the only prerequisite for reading this book.

This volume comprises selected papers presented at the 12th Winter School on Stochastic Processes and their Applications, which was held in Siegmundsburg, Germany, in March 2000. The contents include Backward Stochastic Differential Equations; Semilinear PDE and SPDE; Arbitrage Theory; Credit Derivatives and Models for Correlated Defaults; Three Intertwined Brownian Topics: Exponential Functionals, Winding Numbers and Local Times. A unique opportunity to read ideas from all the top experts on the subject, Stochastic Processes and Related Topics is intended for postgraduates and researchers working in this area of mathematics and provides a useful source of reference.

Consists of papers given at the ICMS meeting held in 1994 on this topic, and brings together some of the world's best known authorities on stochastic partial differential equations.