Title: Transition probability of Brownian motion in the octant and its application to default modeling,
Abstract: We derive a semi-analytic formula for the transition probability of
three-dimensional Brownian motion in the positive octant with absorption at the
boundaries. Separation of variables in spherical coordinates leads to an
eigenvalue problem for the resulting boundary value problem in the two angular
components. The main theoretical result is a solution to the original problem
expressed as an expansion into special functions and an eigenvalue which has to
be chosen to allow a matching of the boundary condition. We discuss and test
several computational methods to solve a finite-dimensional approximation to
this nonlinear eigenvalue problem. Finally, we apply our results to the
computation of default probabilities and credit valuation adjustments in a
structural credit model with mutual liabilities.