Volatility structures of forward rates and the dynamics of the term structure: a multifactor case

Abstract

For general volatility structures for forward rates, the evolution of interest rates may not be Markovian and the entire path may be necessary to capture the dynamics of the term structure. This article identifies conditions on the volatility structure of forward rates that permit the dynamics of the term structure to be represented by a finite-dimensional state variable Markov process. In the deterministic volatility case, we interpret then-factor model as a sum ofn unidimensional models.