Equilibrium Moment Analysis of It\^o SDEs

Abstract

Stochastic differential equations have proved to be a valuable governing framework for many real-world systems which exhibit ``noise'' or randomness in their evolution. One quality of interest in such systems is the shape of their equilibrium probability distribution, if such a thing exists. In some cases a straightforward integral equation may yield this steady-state distribution, but in other cases the equilibrium distribution exists and yet that integral equation diverges. Here we establish a new equilibrium-analysis technique based on the logic of finite-timestep simulation which allows us to glean information about the equilibrium regardless -- in particular, a relationship between the raw moments of the equilibrium distribution. We utilize this technique to extract information about one such equilibrium resistant to direct definition.