Abstract
The standard Langevin equation is a first order stochastic differential equation where the driving noise
term is a Brownian motion. The marginal probability density is a solution to a linear partial differential equation called the
Fokker-Planck equation. If the Brownian motion is replaced by so-called alpha-stable noise (or Levy
noise) the Fokker-Planck equation no longer exists as a partial differential equation for the probability density because the
property of finite variance is lost. In stead it has been attempted to formulate an equation for the characteristic function (the
Fourier transform) corresponding to the density function. This equation is frequently called the spectral Fokker-Planck
equation.
This paper raises doubt about the validity of the spectral Fokker/Planck equation in its standard formulation. The
equation can be solved with respect to stationary solutions in the particular case where the noise is Cauchy noise and the
drift function is a polynomial that allows the existence of a stationary probability density solution. The solution shows
paradoxic properties by not being unique and only in particular cases having one of its solutions closely approximating the
solutions to a corresponding Langevin difference equation. Similar doubt can be traced in Grigoriu's work [Stochastic Calculus(2002)].
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics |
| Volume | 19 |
| Pages (from-to) | 385-392 |
| ISSN | 0266-8920 |
| Publication status | Published - 2004 |
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