Semiquadratic copulas based on horizontal and vertical interpolation

We introduce several families of semiquadratic copulas (i.e. copulas that are quadratic in any point of the unit square in at least one coordinate) of which the diagonal and/or opposite diagonal sections are given functions. These copulas are constructed by quadratic interpolation on segments connecting the diagonal, opposite diagonal and sides of the unit square; all interpolations are therefore performed horizontally or vertically. For each family we provide the necessary and sufficient conditions on the given diagonal and/or opposite diagonal functions and two auxiliary real functions to obtain a copula that has these diagonal and/or opposite diagonal functions as diagonal and/or opposite diagonal sections. Just as the product copula is a central member of all families of semilinear copulas based on horizontal and vertical interpolation, it turns out that the Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern family of copulas is included in all families of semiquadratic copulas introduced and characterized here.