In this paper, we prove a comparison result between semicontinuous viscosity sub and supersolutions growing at most quadratically of second-order degenerate parabolic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman and Isaacs equations. As an application, we characterize the value function of a finite horizon stochastic control problem with unbounded controls as the unique viscosity solution of the corresponding dynamic programming equation.
This paper concerns continuous dependence estimates for Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman-Isaacs operators (briefly, HJBI). For the parabolic Cauchy problem, we establish such an estimate in the whole space $[0,+\infty)\times\Rn$. Moreover, under some periodicity and ellipticity assumptions, we obtain a similar estimate for the ergodic constant associated to the HJBI operator. An interesting byproduct of the latter result will be the local uniform convergence for some classes of singular perturbation problems.
In this article we present several results concerning uniqueness of $C$-viscosity and $L_{p}$-viscosity solutions for fully nonlinear parabolic equations. In case of the Isaacs equations we allow lower order terms to have just measurable bounded coefficients. Higher-order coefficients are assumed to be Hölder continuous in $x$ with exponent slightly less than $1/2$. This case is treated by using stability of maximal and minimal $L_{p}$-viscosity solutions.
The purpose of this work is to produce a regularity theory for a class of parabolic Isaacs equations. Our techniques are based on approximation methods which allow us to connect our problem with a Bellman parabolic model. An approximation regime for the coefficients, combined with a smallness condition on the source term unlocks new regularity results in Sobolev and Hölder spaces.
In this paper, we propose an approximation method to study the regularity of solutions to the Isaacs equation. This class of problems plays a paramount role in the regularity theory for fully nonlinear elliptic equations. First, it is a model-problem of a non-convex operator. In addition, the usual mechanisms to access regularity of solutions fall short in addressing these equations. We approximate an Isaacs equation by a Bellman one, and make assumptions on the latter to recover information for the former. Our techniques produce results in Sobolev and Hölder spaces; we also examine a few cons…
A new stochastic control model for the long-run environmental management of rivers is mathematically and numerically analyzed, focusing on a modern sediment replenishment problem with unique nonsmooth and nonlinear properties. Rational inattention as a novel adaptive strategy to collect information and intervene against the target system is modeled using Erlangization. The system dynamics containing the river discharge following a continuous-state branching with an immigration-type process and the controlled sediment storage dynamics lead to a nonsmooth and nonlocal infinitesimal generator. Mo…
We derive $C^{1,σ}$-estimate for the solutions of a class of non-local elliptic Bellman-Isaacs equations. These equations are fully nonlinear and are associated with infinite horizon stochastic differential game problems involving jump-diffusions. The non-locality is represented by the presence of fractional order diffusion term and we deal with the particular case of $\frac 12$-Laplacian, where the order $\frac 12$ is known as the critical order in this context. More importantly, these equations are not translation invariant and we prove that the viscosity solutions of such equations are $C^{…
We show how a theorem about solvability in $C^{1,1}$ of special Isaacs equations can be used to obtain existence and uniqueness of viscosity solutions of general uniformly nondegenerate Isaacs equations. We apply it also to establish the $C^{1+χ}$ regularity of viscosity solutions and show that finite-difference approximations have an algebraic rate of convergence. The main coefficients of the Isaacs equations are supposed to be in $C^γ$ with $γ$ slightly less than $1/2$.
We show how a theorem about the solvability in $W^{1,2}_{\infty}$ of special parabolic Isaacs equations can be used to obtain the existence and uniqueness of viscosity solutions of general uniformly nondegenerate parabolic Isaacs equations. We apply it also to establish the $C^{1+χ}$ regularity of viscosity solutions and show that finite-difference approximations have an algebraic rate of convergence. The main coefficients of the Isaacs equations are supposed to be in $C^γ$ with respect to the spatial variables with $γ$ slightly less than $1/2$.
This article is the starting point of a series of works whose aim is the study of deterministic control problems where the dynamic and the running cost can be completely different in two (or more) complementary domains of the space $\R^N$. As a consequence, the dynamic and running cost present discontinuities at the boundary of these domains and this is the main difficulty of this type of problems. We address these questions by using a Bellman approach: our aim is to investigate how to define properly the value function(s), to deduce what is (are) the right Bellman Equation(s) associated to th…
Under some assumptions on the vectors $a_{1},..,a_{n} \in\mathbb{R}^{k}$ and the function $B : \mathbb{R}^{n} \to \mathbb{R}$ we find the sharp estimate of the expression $\int_{\mathbb{R}^{k}} B(u_{1}(a_{1}\cdot x),..., u_{n}(a_{n}\cdot x))dx$ in terms of $\int_{\mathbb{R}}u_{j}(y)dy, j=1,...,n.$ In some particular case we will show that these assumptions on $B$ imply that there is only one Brascamp--Lieb inequality.
We obtain weighted uniform estimates for the gradient of the solutions to a class of linear parabolic Cauchy problems with unbounded coefficients. Such estimates are then used to prove existence and uniqueness of the mild solution to a semi-linear backward parabolic Cauchy problem, where the differential equation is the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation of a suitable optimal control problem. Via backward stochastic differential equations, we show that the mild solution is indeed the Value Function of the controlled equation and that the feedback law is verified.
We prove non-uniqueness and study the behaviour of viscosity solutions of a class of uniformly elliptic fully nonlinear equations of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman-Isaacs type, with quadratic growth in the gradient. The crucial a priori bound for the solutions is proved through an argument which uses a boundary growth lemma, and consequences such as boundary "half"-Harnack inequalities, which are of independent interest. Our results are new even for linear equations.
This article is a continuation of a previous work where we studied infinite horizon control problems for which the dynamic, running cost and control space may be different in two half-spaces of some euclidian space $\R^N$. In this article we extend our results in several directions: $(i)$ to more general domains; $(ii)$ by considering finite horizon control problems; $(iii)$ by weaken the controlability assumptions. We use a Bellman approach and our main results are to identify the right Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman Equation (and in particular the right conditions to be put on the interfaces separa…
We study the Bellman equation in the Wasserstein space arising in the study of mean field control problems, namely stochastic optimal control problems for McKean-Vlasov diffusion processes.Using the standard notion of viscosity solution à la Crandall-Lions extended to our Wasserstein setting,we prove a comparison result under general conditions on the drift and reward coefficients, whichcoupled with the dynamic programming principle, implies that the value function is the unique viscosity solution of the Master Bellman equation.This is the first uniqueness result in such a second-order context…
In this paper, we propose and study the stochastic path-dependent Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (SPHJB) equation that arises naturally from the optimal stochastic control problem of stochastic differential equations with path-dependence and measurable randomness. Both the notions of viscosity solution and classical solution are proposed, and the value function of the optimal stochastic control problem is proved to be the viscosity solution to the associated SPHJB equation. A uniqueness result about viscosity solutions is also given for certain superparabolic cases, while the uniqueness of classical …
In this paper we study the fully nonlinear stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation for the optimal stochastic control problem of stochastic differential equations with random coefficients. The notion of viscosity solution is introduced, and we prove that the value function of the optimal stochastic control problem is the maximal viscosity solution of the associated stochastic HJB equation. For the superparabolic cases when the diffusion coefficients are deterministic functions of time, states and controls, the uniqueness is addressed as well.
This paper surveys some recent results on existence, uniqueness and removable singularities for fully nonlinear differential equations on manifolds. The discussion also treats restriction theorems and the strong Bellman principle.
This paper is concerned with Hölder regularity of viscosity solutions of second-order, fully non-linear elliptic integro-differential equations. Our results rely on two key ingredients: first we assume that, at each point of the domain, either the equation is strictly elliptic in the classical fully non-linear sense, or (and this is the most original part of our work) the equation is strictly elliptic in a non-local non-linear sense we make precise. Next we impose some regularity and growth conditions on the equation. These results are concerned with a large class of integro-differential opera…
We study in this series of articles the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation $$ \partial_t h(t,x)=νΔh(t,x)+λV(|\nabla h(t,x)|) +\sqrt{D}\, η(t,x), \qquad x\in{\mathbb{R}}^d $$ in $d\ge 1$ dimensions. The forcing term $η$ in the right-hand side is a regularized white noise. The deposition rate $V$ is assumed to be isotropic and convex. Assuming $V(0)\ge 0$, one finds $V(|\nabla h|)\ltimes |\nabla h|^2$ for small gradients, yielding the equation which is most commonly used in the literature. The present article, a continuation of [24], is dedicated to a generalization of the PDE estimates obtained…
In this paper we show a uniqueness result for weak epigraphical solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations on infinite horizon for a class of lower semicontinuous functions vanishing at infinity. Weak epigraphical solutions of HJB equations, with time-measurable data and fiber-convex, turn out to be viscosity solutions - in the classical sense - whenever they are locally Lipschitz continuous. Here we extend the notion of locally absolutely continuous tubes to set-valued maps with continuous epigraph of locally bounded variations. This new notion fits with the lack of uniform lower bo…
The notes are an overview of part of the theory of pathwise weak solutions to two classes of scalar fully nonlinear first- and second-order degenerate parabolic partial differential equations with multiplicative rough time dependence, a special case being Brownian. These are Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs-Bellman and quasilinear divergence form equations including multi-dimensional scalar conservation laws. If the time dependence is `regular', the weak solutions are respectively the viscosity and entropy/kinetic solutions. The results presented here are about the wellposedness of the solutions. Some c…
This is the first of a series of papers on the interior regularity of fully nonlinear degenerate elliptic equations. We consider a stochastic optimal control problem in which the diffusion coefficients, drift coefficients and discount factor are independent of the spacial variables. Under suitable assumptions, for $k=0,1$, when the terminal and running payoffs are globally $C^{k,1}$, we obtain the $C^{k,1}$-smoothness of the value function, which yields the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the associated Dirichlet problem for the degenerate Bellman equation.
Unbounded stochastic control problems may lead to Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations whose Hamiltonians are not always defined, especially when the diffusion term is unbounded with respect to the control. We obtain existence and uniqueness of viscosity solutions growing at most like $o(1+|x|^p)$ at infinity for such HJB equations and more generally for degenerate parabolic equations with a superlinear convex gradient nonlinearity. If the corresponding control problem has a bounded diffusion with respect to the control, then our results apply to a larger class of solutions, namely those growing …
General theorems for existence and uniqueness of viscosity solutions for Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman quasi-variational inequalities (HJBQVI) with integral term are established. Such nonlinear partial integro-differential equations (PIDE) arise in the study of combined impulse and stochastic control for jump-diffusion processes. The HJBQVI consists of an HJB part (for stochastic control) combined with a nonlocal impulse intervention term. Existence results are proved via stochastic means, whereas our uniqueness (comparison) results adapt techniques from viscosity solution theory. This paper is to o…
In this paper, we guarantee the existence and uniqueness (in the almost everywhere sense) of the solution to a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation with gradient constraint and a partial integro-differential operator whose Lévy measure has bounded variation. This type of equation arises in a singular control problem, where the state process is a multidimensional jump-diffusion with jumps of finite variation and infinite activity. We verify, by means of ε-penalized controls, that the value function associated with this problem satisfies the aforementioned HJB equation.
Uniqueness of positive solutions to viscous Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations of the form $-Δu(x) + \frac{1}γ |D{u}(x)|^γ= f(x) - λ$, with $f$ a coercive function and $λ$ a constant, in the subquadratic case, that is, $γ\in(1,2)$, appears to be an open problem. Barles and Meireles [Comm. Partial Differential Equations 41 (2016)] show uniqueness in the case that $f(x) \approx |x|^β$ and $|D f(x)|\lessapprox |x|^{(β-1)_+}$ for some $β>0$, essentially matching earlier results of Ichihara, who considered more general Hamiltonians but with better regularity for $f$. Without enforcing this ass…
The non-exponential Schilder-type theorem in Backhoff-Veraguas, Lacker and Tangpi [Ann. Appl. Probab., 30 (2020), pp. 1321-1367] is expressed as a convergence result for path-dependent partial differential equations with appropriate notions of generalized solutions. This entails a non-Markovian counterpart to the vanishing viscosity method. We show uniqueness of maximal subsolutions for path-dependent viscous Hamilton-Jacobi equations related to convex super-quadratic backward stochastic differential equations. We establish well-posedness for the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation associated to …
For Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations, with the standard definitions of viscosity super-solution and sub-solution, it is known that there is a comparison between any (viscosity) super-solutions and sub-solutions. This should be the same for HJB type quasi-variational inequalities (QVIs) arising from optimal impulse control problems. However, according to a natural adoption of the definition found in Barles 1985, Barles 1985b, the uniqueness of the viscosity solution could be guaranteed, but the comparison between viscosity super- and sub-solutions could not be guaranteed. This paper intr…
