Risk-Sensitive Stochastic Control with Applications to An Optimal Investment Problem under Correlated Noises

This paper is concerned with a risk-sensitive stochastic control problem, motivated by an optimal investment problem under correlated noises in the financial market. A new stochastic maximum principle for this kind of problem is obtained first, where the adjoint equations and maximum condition heavily depend on the risk-sensitive parameter and the correlation coefficient. Then the theoretical result is applied to the optimal investment problem with correlated noises, and the optimal investment strategy is obtained in a state feedback form, under a critical condition satisfied by the risk-sensitive parameter and the correlation coefficient. Numerical simulation and figures are given to explicitly illustrate the change and the sensitivity for optimal solution with respect to the risk-sensitive parameter and the correlation coefficient.