Mean-field backward stochastic differential equations and nonlocal PDEs with quadratic growth

Abstract: In this paper, we study general mean-field backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs, for short) with quadratic growth. First, the existence and uniqueness of local and global solutions are proved with some new ideas for a one-dimensional mean-field BSDE when the generator $g\big(t, Y, Z, \mathbb{P}{Y}, \mathbb{P}{Z}\big)$ has a quadratic growth in $Z$ and the terminal value is bounded. Second, a comparison theorem for the general mean-field BSDEs is obtained with the Girsanov transform. Third, we prove the convergence of the particle systems to the mean-field BSDEs with quadratic growth, and the convergence rate is also given. Finally, in this framework, we use the mean-field BSDE to provide a probabilistic representation for the viscosity solution of a nonlocal partial differential equation (PDE, for short) as an extended nonlinear Feynman-Kac formula, which yields the existence and uniqueness of the solution to the PDE.