Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-stochastic-differential-equations-and-brownian-motion-in-complex-analysis-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/b/6/c/ii/solution

Assume that a nonconstant polynomial has no zero. Then is entire. The leading polynomial term makes as , so there. On any remaining compact disk, continuity and absence of zeros bound . Consequently is bounded on the entire plane.
Part (c)(i) makes a bounded local martingale, hence a true bounded martingale. The martingale convergence theorem says it converges almost surely as .
The harmonic function cannot be constant. Otherwise the Cauchy-Riemann equations would make both derivatives of zero, so and then would be constant. Choose points with . Continuity supplies two disjoint disks on which the ranges of are separated by a positive gap. By part (b), the Brownian path visits these disks alternately at times tending to infinity. The corresponding subsequences of then remain separated, contradicting its almost sure convergence.
The zero-free assumption is impossible. Hence
Every nonconstant complex polynomial has a complex root.
This proves the fundamental theorem of algebra using recurrence and martingale convergence, without invoking Liouville's theorem as a prior algebraic shortcut.

New to topics? Read the docs here!