Free CIR processes

Abstract

For stochastic processes of non-commuting random variables, we formulate a Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) stochastic differential equation in the context of free probability theory which was introduced by D. Voiculescu. By transforming the classical CIR equation and the Feller condition, which ensures the existence of a positive solution, into the free setting (in the sense of having a strictly positive spectrum), we show the global existence for a free CIR equation. The main challenge lies in the transition from a stochastic differential equation driven by a classical Brownian motion to a stochastic differential equation driven by the free analogue to the classical Brownian motion, the so-called free Brownian motion.