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Hurst exponents, Markov processes, and fractional Brownian motion

Author

Listed:
  • McCauley, Joseph L.
  • Gunaratne, Gemunu H.
  • Bassler, Kevin E.

Abstract

There is much confusion in the literature over Hurst exponents. Recently, we took a step in the direction of eliminating some of the confusion. One purpose of this paper is to illustrate the difference between fractional Brownian motion (fBm) on the one hand and Gaussian Markov processes where H≠12 on the other. The difference lies in the increments, which are stationary and correlated in one case and nonstationary and uncorrelated in the other. The two- and one-point densities of fBm are constructed explicitly. The two-point density does not scale. The one-point density for a semi-infinite time interval is identical to that for a scaling Gaussian Markov process with H≠12 over a finite time interval. We conclude that both Hurst exponents and one-point densities are inadequate for deducing the underlying dynamics from empirical data. We apply these conclusions in the end to make a focused statement about ‘nonlinear diffusion’.

Suggested Citation

  • McCauley, Joseph L. & Gunaratne, Gemunu H. & Bassler, Kevin E., 2007. "Hurst exponents, Markov processes, and fractional Brownian motion," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 379(1), pages 1-9.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:379:y:2007:i:1:p:1-9
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2006.12.028
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin E. Bassler & Joseph L. McCauley & Gemunu H. Gunaratne, 2006. "Nonstationary Increments, Scaling Distributions, and Variable Diffusion Processes in Financial Markets," Papers physics/0609198, arXiv.org.
    2. Bassler, Kevin E. & McCauley, Joseph L. & Gunaratne, Gemunu H., 2006. "Nonstationary increments, scaling distributions, and variable diffusion processes in financial markets," MPRA Paper 2126, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Giacomo Bormetti & Sofia Cazzaniga, 2011. "Multiplicative noise, fast convolution, and pricing," Papers 1107.1451, arXiv.org.
    2. McCauley, Joseph L. & Bassler, Kevin E. & Gunaratne, Gemunu H., 2008. "Martingales, detrending data, and the efficient market hypothesis," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(1), pages 202-216.
    3. Aleksejus Kononovicius & Vygintas Gontis, 2019. "Approximation of the first passage time distribution for the birth-death processes," Papers 1902.00924, arXiv.org.
    4. Wiston Adrian Risso, 2009. "The informational efficiency: the emerging markets versus the developed markets," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 485-487.
    5. V. Gontis & A. Kononovicius, 2017. "Burst and inter-burst duration statistics as empirical test of long-range memory in the financial markets," Papers 1701.01255, arXiv.org.
    6. Risso, Wiston Adrián, 2008. "The informational efficiency and the financial crashes," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 396-408, September.
    7. Jiahua Wang & Hongliang Zhu & Dongxin Li, 2018. "Price Dynamics in an Order-Driven Market with Bayesian Learning," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-15, November.
    8. Vygintas Gontis, 2023. "Discrete $q$-exponential limit order cancellation time distribution," Papers 2306.00093, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    9. Sensoy, Ahmet & Tabak, Benjamin M., 2016. "Dynamic efficiency of stock markets and exchange rates," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 353-371.
    10. Vygintas Gontis & Aleksejus Kononovicius, 2017. "Spurious memory in non-equilibrium stochastic models of imitative behavior," Papers 1707.09801, arXiv.org.
    11. McCauley, Joseph L., 2007. "A comment on the paper “Stochastic feedback, nonlinear families of Markov processes, and nonlinear Fokker–Planck equations” by T.D. Frank," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 382(2), pages 445-452.
    12. Sensoy, Ahmet & Tabak, Benjamin M., 2015. "Time-varying long term memory in the European Union stock markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 436(C), pages 147-158.
    13. Cufaro Petroni, Nicola, 2008. "Selfdecomposability and selfsimilarity: A concise primer," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(8), pages 1875-1894.
    14. Miśkiewicz, Janusz & Ausloos, Marcel, 2008. "Correlation measure to detect time series distances, whence economy globalization," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(26), pages 6584-6594.
    15. Fan, Feng-Hua & Deng, Yanbin & Huang, Yong-Chang, 2017. "Investigation on financial crises with the negative-information-propagation-induced model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 470(C), pages 94-104.
    16. Hua, Jia-Chen & Chen, Lijian & Falcon, Liberty & McCauley, Joseph L. & Gunaratne, Gemunu H., 2015. "Variable diffusion in stock market fluctuations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 419(C), pages 221-233.
    17. Vygintas Gontis, 2021. "Order flow in the financial markets from the perspective of the Fractional L\'evy stable motion," Papers 2105.02057, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2021.
    18. Aleksejus Kononovicius & Bronislovas Kaulakys, 2022. "$1/f$ noise from the sequence of nonoverlapping rectangular pulses," Papers 2210.11792, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2023.
    19. Gontis, V. & Kononovicius, A., 2017. "Burst and inter-burst duration statistics as empirical test of long-range memory in the financial markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 483(C), pages 266-272.
    20. Jovanovic, Franck & Schinckus, Christophe, 2017. "Econophysics and Financial Economics: An Emerging Dialogue," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190205034, Decembrie.
    21. Rytis Kazakevicius & Aleksejus Kononovicius & Bronislovas Kaulakys & Vygintas Gontis, 2021. "Understanding the nature of the long-range memory phenomenon in socioeconomic systems," Papers 2108.02506, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.

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