Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Options are a special type of derivative securities because their values are derived from the value of some underlying security. Most options can be grouped into either of the two categories: European options which can be exercised only on the expiration date, and American options which can be exercised on or before the expiration date. American options are much harder to deal with than European ones. The reason being the optimal exercise policy of these options which led to free boundary problems. Ever since the seminal work of Black and Scholes [J. Pol. Bean. 81(3) (1973), 637-659], the differential equation approach in pricing options has attracted many researchers. Recently, numerical singular perturbation techniques have been used extensively for solving many differential equation models of sciences and engineering. In this thesis, we explore some of those methods which are based on spline approximations to solve the option pricing problems. We show a systematic construction and analysis of these methods to solve some European option problems and then extend the approach to solve problems of pricing American options as well as some exotic options. Proposed methods are analyzed for stability and convergence. Thorough numerical results are presented and compared with those seen in the literature.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Many problems in financial world are being modeled by means of differential equation. These problems are time dependent, highly nonlinear, stochastic and heavily depend on the previous history of time. A variety of financial products exists in the market, such as forwards, futures, swaps and options. Our main focus in this thesis is to use the numerical analysis tools to solve some option pricing problems. Depending upon the inter-relationship of the financial derivatives, the dimension of the associated problem increases drastically and hence conventional methods (for example, the finite difference methods or finite element methods) for solving them do not provide satisfactory results. To resolve this issue, we use a special class of numerical methods, namely, the mesh free methods. These methods are often better suited to cope with changes in the geometry of the domain of interest than classical discretization techniques. In this thesis, we apply these methods to solve problems that price standard and non-standard options. We then extend the proposed approach to solve Heston's volatility model. The methods in each of these cases are analyzed for stability and thorough comparative numerical results are provided.

This thesis treats a range of stochastic methods with various applications, most notably in finance. It is comprised of five articles, and a summary of the key concepts and results these are built on. The first two papers consider a jump-to-default model, which is a model where some quantity, e.g. the price of a financial asset, is represented by a stochastic process which has continuous sample paths except for the possibility of a sudden drop to zero. In Paper I prices of European-type options in this model are studied together with the partial integro-differential equation that characterizes the price. In Paper II the price of a perpetual American put option in the same model is found in terms of explicit formulas. Both papers also study the parameter monotonicity and convexity properties of the option prices. The third and fourth articles both deal with valuation problems in a jump-diffusion model. Paper III concerns the optimal level at which to exercise an American put option with finite time horizon. More specifically, the integral equation that characterizes the optimal boundary is studied. In Paper IV we consider a stochastic game between two players and determine the optimal value and exercise strategy using an iterative technique. Paper V employs a similar iterative method to solve the statistical problem of determining the unknown drift of a stochastic process, where not only running time but also each observation of the process is costly.

<p>This thesis, consisting of six papers and a summary, studies the area of continuous time financial mathematics. A unifying theme for many of the problems studied is the implications of possible mis-specifications of models. Intimately connected with this question is, perhaps surprisingly, convexity properties of option prices. We also study qualitative behavior of different optimal stopping boundaries appearing in option pricing.</p><p>In Paper I a new condition on the contract function of an American option is provided under which the option price increases monotonically in the volatility. It is also shown that American option prices are continuous in the volatility.</p><p>In Paper II an explicit pricing formula for the perpetual American put option in the Constant Elasticity of Variance model is derived. Moreover, different properties of this price are studied.</p><p>Paper III deals with the Russian option with a finite time horizon. It is shown that the value of the Russian option solves a certain free boundary problem. This information is used to analyze the optimal stopping boundary.</p><p>A study of perpetual game options is performed in Paper IV. One of the main results provides a condition under which the value of the option is increasing in the volatility.</p><p>In Paper V options written on several underlying assets are considered. It is shown that, within a large class of models, the only model for the stock prices that assigns convex option prices to all convex contract functions is geometric Brownian motion.</p><p>Finally, in Paper VI it is shown that the optimal stopping boundary for the American put option is convex in the standard Black-Scholes model. </p>

This thesis, consisting of six papers and a summary, studies the area of continuous time financial mathematics. A unifying theme for many of the problems studied is the implications of possible mis-specifications of models. Intimately connected with this question is, perhaps surprisingly, convexity properties of option prices. We also study qualitative behavior of different optimal stopping boundaries appearing in option pricing. In Paper I a new condition on the contract function of an American option is provided under which the option price increases monotonically in the volatility. It is also shown that American option prices are continuous in the volatility. In Paper II an explicit pricing formula for the perpetual American put option in the Constant Elasticity of Variance model is derived. Moreover, different properties of this price are studied. Paper III deals with the Russian option with a finite time horizon. It is shown that the value of the Russian option solves a certain free boundary problem. This information is used to analyze the optimal stopping boundary. A study of perpetual game options is performed in Paper IV. One of the main results provides a condition under which the value of the option is increasing in the volatility. In Paper V options written on several underlying assets are considered. It is shown that, within a large class of models, the only model for the stock prices that assigns convex option prices to all convex contract functions is geometric Brownian motion. Finally, in Paper VI it is shown that the optimal stopping boundary for the American put option is convex in the standard Black-Scholes model.

Cette thèse est dédiée à l'analyse mathématique de quelques problèmes variationnels motivés par le modèle de Ginzburg-Landau en théorie de la supraconductivité. Dans la première partie on étudie l'existence de solutions pour les équations de Ginzburg-Landau sans champ magnétique et avec données au bord de type semi-rigides. Ces données consistent à prescrire le module de la fonction sur le bord du domaine ainsi que son degré topologique. C'est un cas particulier de problèmes à bord libre, ou la donnée complète de la fonction sur le bord est une inconnue du problème. L'existence de solutions à ce problème n'est pas assurée. En effet la méthode directe du calcul des variations ne peut pas s'appliquer car le degré sur le bord n'est pas continu pour la convergence faible dans l'espace de Sobolev adapté. On dit que c'est un problème sans compacité. En étudiant le phénomène de "bubbling" qui apparaît dans l'étude de tels problèmes on donne des résultats d'existence et de non existence de solutions. Dans le Chapitre 1 on étudie des conditions qui permettent d'affirmer que la différence entre deux niveaux d'énergie est strictement optimale. Pour cela on adapte une technique due à Brezis-Coron. Ceci nous permet de redémontrer un résultat (précédemment obtenu par Berlaynd Rybalko et Dos Santos) d'existence de solutions stables pour les équations de Ginzburg-Landau dans des domaines multiplement connexes. Dans le Chapitre 2 on considère les applications harmoniques a valeurs dans $R^2$ avec des conditions au bord de type degrés prescrits sur un anneau. On fait un lien entre ce problème et la théorie des surfaces minimales dans $R^3$ grâce à la différentielle quadratique de Hopf. Ceci nous conduit à l'étude des surfaces minimales bordées par deux cercles dans des plans parallèles. On prouve l'existence de telles surfaces qui ne sont pas des catenoides grâce a un résultat de bifurcation. On utilise alors les résultats obtenus pour déduire des théorèmes d'existence et de non existence de minimiseurs de l'énergie de Ginzburg-Landau à degrés prescrits dans un anneau. Dans ce troisième Chapitre on obtient des résultats pour une valeur du paramètre " grand. Le Chapitre 4 a pour objet l'étude des problèmes a degrés prescrits en dimension n3. On y montre la non existence des minimiseurs de la n-énergie de Ginzburg-Landau a degrés prescrits dans un domaine simplement connexe. On étudie ensuite des points critiques de type min-max pour une énergie perturbée. La deuxième partie est consacrée a l'analyse asymptotique des solutions des équations deGinzburg-Landau lorsque " tend vers zero. Sandier et Serfaty ont étudié le comportement asymptotique des mesures de vorticité associées aux équations. Ils ont notamment trouvé des conditions critiques sur les mesures limites dans le cas des équations avec et sans champ magnétique. Nous nous intéressons alors à ces conditions critiques dans le cas sans champ magnétique. Le problème de la régularité locale des mesures limites se ramène ainsi a l'étude de la régularité des fonctions stationnaires harmoniques dont le Laplacien est une mesure. Nous montrons que localement de telles mesures sont supportées par une union de lignes appartenant à l'ensemble des zéros d'une fonction harmonique / This thesis is devoted to the mathematical analysis of some variational problems. These problem sare motivated by the Ginzburg-Landau model related to the super conductivity. In the first part we study existence of solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations without magnetic eld but with semi-sti boundary conditions. These conditions are obtained by prescribing the modulus of the function on the boundary of the domain along with its topological degree. This is a particular case of free boundary problems, where the function on the boundary is an unknown of the problem. Existence of solutions of that problem does not necessary hold. Indeed we can not apply the direct method of the calculus of variations since the degree on the boundaryis not continuous with respect to the weak convergence in an appropriated Sobolev space. This is problem with loss of compactness. By studying the bublling" phenomenon which come upin such problems we obtain some existence and non existence results .In Chapter 1 we study conditions under which the dierence between two energy levels is strictly optimal. In order to do that we adapt a technique due to Brezis-Coron. This allow us to recover known existence results (previously obtained by Berlyand and Rybalko and DosSantos) for stable solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations in multiply connected domains. In Chapter 2 we are interested in harmonic maps with values in $R^2$ with prescribed degree boundary condition in an annulus. We make a link between this problem and the minimal surface theory in $R^3$ thanks to the so-called Hopf quadratic differential. This leads us to study immersed minimal surfaces bounded by two circles in parallel planes. We prove the existence of such surfaces die rent from catenoids by using a bifurcation argument. We then apply the results obtained to deduce existence and non existence results for minimizers of the Ginzburg-Landau energy with prescribed degrees. This is done in Chapter 3 where the results are obtained for large ".Chapter 4 is devoted to prescribed degree problems in dimension n3 . We prove the non existence of minimizers of the Ginzburg-Landau energy in simply connected domains. We then study min-max critical points of a perturbed energy. The second part is devoted to the asymptotic analysis of solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations when "goes to zero. Sandier and Serfaty studied the asymptotic behavior of the vorticity measures associated to these equations. They derived critical conditions on the limiting measures both with and without magnetic Field. We are interested by these conditions when there is no magnetic Field. The problem of the local regularity of the limiting measures is then equivalent to the study of regularity of stationary harmonic functions whose Laplacianis a measure. We show that locally such measures are concentrated on a union of lines which belong to the zero set of an harmonic function

This thesis is in the field of non-linear partial differential equations (PDE), focusing on problems which show some type of phase-transition. A single phase Hele-Shaw flow models a Newtoninan fluid which is being injected in the space between two narrowly separated parallel planes. The time evolution of the space that the fluid occupies can be modelled by a semi-linear PDE. This is a problem within the field of free boundary problems. In the multi-phase problem we consider the time-evolution of a system of phases which interact according to the principle that the joint boundary which emerges when two phases meet is fixed for all future times. The problem is handled by introducing a parameterized equation which is regularized and penalized. The penalization is non-local in time and tracks the history of the system, penalizing the joint support of two different phases in space-time. The main result in the first paper is the existence theory of a weak solution to the parameterized equations in a Bochner space using the implicit function theorem. The family of solutions to the parameterized problem is uniformly bounded allowing us to extract a weakly convergent subsequence for the case when the penalization tends to infinity. The second problem deals with a parameterized highly oscillatory quasi-linear elliptic equation in divergence form. As the regularization parameter tends to zero the equation gets a jump in the conductivity which occur at the level set of a locally periodic function, the obstacle. As the oscillations in the problem data increases the solution to the equation experiences high frequency jumps in the conductivity, resulting in the corresponding solutions showing an effective global behaviour. The global behavior is related to the so called homogenized solution. We show that the parameterized equation has a weak solution in a Sobolev space and derive bounds on the solutions used in the analysis for the case when the regularization is lost. Surprisingly, the limiting problem in this case includes an extra term describing the interaction between the solution and the obstacle, not appearing in the case when obstacle is the zero level-set. The oscillatory nature of the problem makes standard numerical algorithms computationally expensive, since the global domain needs to be resolved on the micro scale. We develop a multi scale method for this problem based on the heterogeneous multiscale method (HMM) framework and using a finite element (FE) approach to capture the macroscopic variations of the solutions at a significantly lower cost. We numerically investigate the effect of the obstacle on the homogenized solution, finding empirical proof that certain choices of obstacles make the limiting problem have a form structurally different from that of the parameterized problem. / <p>QC 20180222</p>