Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/iii/paper-202/4/2/solution

Let be a Brownian motion, set , and define
This is a continuous local martingale with quadratic variation , hence is Brownian by the Lévy characterization of Brownian motion. Since ,
which gives a weak solution.
Suppose a strong solution existed. It has quadratic variation , so itself is Brownian. The supplied Tanaka formula gives , and is adapted to the completed filtration of . Hence and generate the same completed filtration. Strongness would make , and therefore , measurable with respect to the history of . But a Brownian excursion has an independent symmetric sign; in particular, conditionally on the reflected Brownian path, the sign at a fixed nonzero time is not measurable. This contradiction proves that no strong solution exists.

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