Regularisation and Stability in Calibration

Hard·25 min read
CalibrationRegularisationTikhonovInverse ProblemsNumerical Stability

Quick Quiz

1. In the SVD of the Jacobian J=UΣVJ = U\Sigma V^\top, the unregularised least-squares update is δθLS=jujδσ^σjvj\delta\theta_{\mathrm{LS}} = \sum_j \frac{u_j^\top \delta\hat{\sigma}}{\sigma_j} v_j. Why do small singular values σj0\sigma_j \approx 0 cause calibration instability?

2. Tikhonov regularisation adds a penalty λθθ02\lambda\|\theta - \theta_0\|^2 to the calibration objective. In terms of the SVD filter factors fj(λ)=σj2/(σj2+λ)f_j(\lambda) = \sigma_j^2/(\sigma_j^2 + \lambda), what happens to parameter directions with large singular values (σjλ\sigma_j \gg \sqrt{\lambda})?

3. The Morozov discrepancy principle selects λ\lambda such that r(θλ)ϵN\|r(\theta_\lambda)\| \approx \epsilon\sqrt{N}. In a Heston calibration with N=50N = 50 instruments and a bid-ask half-spread of 0.20.2 vol points (ϵ=0.002\epsilon = 0.002), what is the target residual norm?

4. Regularising the Heston calibration by adding a Tikhonov penalty λθθprev2\lambda\|\theta - \theta_{\mathrm{prev}}\|^2 (where θprev\theta_{\mathrm{prev}} is yesterday's calibration) eliminates calibration bias on days when the market makes a large move.

5. In the L-curve method, the optimal regularisation parameter λ\lambda^* is identified at the corner of the L-shaped curve plotting residual norm versus regularisation norm. What characterises a point on the 'horizontal arm' of the L-curve (small λ\lambda)?

6. Penalising surface curvature in local vol calibration via λ1kkσloc2\lambda_1 \|\partial_{kk} \sigma_{\mathrm{loc}}\|^2 suppresses oscillations across strikes. What is the key failure mode when λ1\lambda_1 is chosen too large?