A micro-macro acceleration method for the Monte Carlo simulation of stochastic differential equations

We present and analyse a micro-macro acceleration method for the Monte Carlo simulation of stochastic differential equations with separation between the (fast) time-scale of individual trajectories and the (slow) time-scale of the macroscopic function of interest. The algorithm combines short bursts of path simulations with extrapolation of a number of macroscopic state variables forward in time. The new microscopic state, consistent with the extrapolated variables, is obtained by a matching operator that minimises the perturbation caused by the extrapolation. We provide a proof of the convergence of this method, in the absence of statistical error, and we analyse various strategies for matching, as an operator on probability measures. Finally, we present numerical experiments that illustrate the effects of the different approximations on the resulting error in macroscopic predictions.