Finite Volume Difference Scheme for a Degenerate Parabolic Equation in the Zero-Coupon Bond Pricing

Abstract

In this paper we solve numerically a degenerate parabolic equation with dynamical boundary conditions of zero-coupon bond pricing. First, we discuss some properties of the differential equation. Then, starting from the divergent form of the equation we implement the finite-volume method of S. Wang [16] to discretize the differential problem. We show that the system matrix of the discretization scheme is a M-matrix, so that the discretization is monotone. This provides the non-negativity of the price with respect to time if the initial distribution is nonnegative. Numerical experiments demonstrate the efficiency of our difference scheme near the ends of the interval where the degeneration occurs.