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The characteristic function of a real random variable $X$ isIt determines the probability distribution of $X$.

Here $t\in \mathbb{R}$ and $i^2=-1$. By Euler's formula, its real part and imaginary part are $\mathbb{E}[\cos (tX)]$ and $\mathbb{E}[\sin (tX)]$. The complex exponential has absolute value one, so this expected value exists for every real random variable, even without finite absolute moments. Moreover,The bound uses the triangle inequality for a vector-valued integral; the last identity is complex conjugate symmetry.^[ref] Consequently the real part is an even function and the imaginary part is an odd function.

For a discrete probability distribution with values $x_j$ and probabilities $p_j$, the characteristic function is ${\sum }_j{p}_j{e}^{it{x}_j}$: a weighted average of points on the unit circle in the complex plane. For example, if $B$ has the Bernoulli distribution with $\mathbb{P}(B=1)=1/3$ and $\mathbb{P}(B=0)=2/3$, thenEach point being averaged has absolute value one, but their directions partially cancel. At $t=\pi$, the same average is $1/3$; at $t=2\pi$, it returns to one. The characteristic function is thus neither a probability density function nor a probability mass function: its argument is a frequency parameter, and its values can be complex numbers. This Bernoulli distribution has no probability density function with respect to Lebesgue measure, yet its characteristic function is defined at every frequency.

For a probability density function $f$, the same definition becomes ${\phi }_X(t)={\int }_{\mathbb{R}}{e}^{itx}f(x)dx$, the Fourier transform with the displayed sign convention. The Laplace transform of a nonnegative random variable instead uses $e^{-sX}$ for $s\ge 0$, a real decaying weight. For the Bernoulli distribution above, it is $2/3+e^{-s}/3$; neither transform is the probability density function. The uniqueness theorem for characteristic functions explains why the oscillating averages still retain the entire probability law, while the characteristic function of a sum of independent variables turns combining laws into multiplication. These two properties make the representation useful even when directly computing a sum's probability distribution is cumbersome.

If $m\ge 1$ is an integer and $\mathbb{E}[|X{|}^m]<\infty$, the characteristic function has continuous derivatives through order $m$, withThus finite absolute moments justify recovering moments from derivatives.^[ref]

For a short justification of differentiation under the integral sign, the difference quotient for the $(k-1)$st derivative has integrand $(iX{)}^{k-1}{e}^{itX}(e^{ihX}-1)/h$. Its absolute value is at most $|X{|}^k$, since $|e^{iu}-1|\le |u|$ for real $u$. Lower absolute moments are finite because $|X{|}^k\le 1+|X{|}^m$. Apply the dominated convergence theorem successively, then use the same integrable bound to obtain continuity of each derivative.

For the Bernoulli distribution with parameter $1/3$, direct differentiation gives ${\phi }_B^{\prime }(0)=i/3$ and ${\phi }_B^{\prime \prime }(0)=-1/3$, agreeing with $\mathbb{E}[B]=\mathbb{E}[B^2]=1/3$. Its variance is therefore $1/3-(1/3{)}^2=2/9$. Existence and continuity of a characteristic function alone do not authorize these moment calculations: the standard Cauchy distribution, whose expected value is undefined, still has a characteristic function. The stated finite absolute moment hypothesis is a sufficient condition for the derivative formula, not an assumption built into the definition of a characteristic function.

Every characteristic function is uniformly continuous and satisfies $\phi (0)=1$ and $|\phi (t)|\le 1$. Continuity follows from the dominated convergence theorem applied to $e^{itX}$.

More explicitly, if $t_n\to t$, then $e^{i{t}_{n}X}\to e^{itX}$ pointwise and $|e^{i{t}_{n}X}|=1$. Apply the dominated convergence theorem to the real part and imaginary part separately. There is no finite moment hypothesis. For uniform continuity, the stronger estimatefollows by factoring out $e^{itX}$, whose absolute value is one. The integrand tends pointwise to zero and is bounded by two, so the dominated convergence theorem applies again. The bound is independent of $t$, which supplies uniform continuity on the entire real line.^[ref]

If the first absolute moment is finite, $|e^{iu}-1|\le |u|$ additionally gives $|{\phi }_X(t+h)-{\phi }_X(t)|\le |h|\mathbb{E}[|X|]$, a Lipschitz continuity estimate. The earlier argument matters because continuity survives even when this expected value is infinite. For convergence in distribution, the separate Lévy continuity theorem concerns limits of whole sequences of characteristic functions; the argument here establishes continuity of one characteristic function.

The Lyapunov moment inequality says that higher positive absolute moments give no smaller absolute moment sizes on a probability space. For a real random variable $Z$ and $0<r<s$,allowing an infinite value. For $r\ge 1$ the left expression is an Lp norm; below one it is a quasi-norm, so the usual triangle inequality terminology needs that distinction. The comparison uses a probability measure of total mass one; arbitrary unnormalized measure spaces need a factor depending on their total mass.

For a nonnegative count, the first moment size is its expected value, while the second is the square root of its second moment. Both ten-trial counts in second moment method have first moment size one. The independent count has second moment size $\sqrt{1.9}\approx 1.37840$, whereas the shared-outcome count $N=10B$ has second moment size $\sqrt{10}\approx 3.16228$. The second moment distinguishes models with the same average because its square increases the influence of rare large counts.

More generally, for $N=10B$ with a Bernoulli random variable $B$ of parameter $1/10$,It rises from one at $r=1$ toward ten as $r\to \infty$. Replacing $1/10$ by a parameter $0<q\le 1$ gives $10q^{1/r}$, which decreases toward zero for a fixed positive exponent when $q\downarrow 0$, making the rare-event and large-exponent limits different questions. For a scaled Rademacher random variable taking values $-2$ and two with equal probabilities, every absolute moment size is exactly two: increasing the exponent does not distinguish signs when the absolute value is constant.

For finite $\mathbb{E}|Z{|}^s$, apply the reversed Jensen's inequality to the strictly concave function $t^{r/s}$ and the nonnegative random variable $|Z{|}^s$:Taking the positive $r$th root proves the claim. Equality in this finite case holds exactly when $|Z|$ is constant almost surely. If the higher moment is infinite, the upper bound is infinite and remains valid. Exponent zero is excluded from the statement; logarithmic or geometric limiting summaries require separately stated conventions, especially when $Z$ can vanish.

For $1\le p<\infty$, define the probability measures with finite $p$th absolute moment bywhere $x_0\in X$ is any fixed reference point. The condition is independent of the choice of $x_0$. The p-Wasserstein distance isThe infimum is over all transport plans, rather than only transport maps. The product measure gives a finite upper bound usingFor $p=1$ this is the Wasserstein distance with the metric of Euclidean space; for $p=2$ it is the second Wasserstein distance. “Bounded moment” here means a finite integral, and does not require $X$ to be bounded.

Write $L=W_p(\mu ,\nu )$. The assumed equality of the Monge optimal transport problem and Kantorovich optimal transport problem values givesEach interpolated pushforward measure ${\mu }_t=(P_t{)}_{\#}\mu$ has a finite $p$th absolute moment, since $|P_t(x){|}^p\le 2^{p-1}(|x{|}^p+|T^{†}(x){|}^p)$ and $(T^{†}{)}_{\#}\mu =\nu$.

For any $s,t\in [0,1]$, the common-source transport planprovides the upper boundFor the reverse bound assume $0\le s\le t\le 1$. Since ${\mu }_0=\mu$ and ${\mu }_1=\nu$, the triangle inequality for the p-Wasserstein distance and the upper bounds already established giveHence $W_p({\mu }_s,{\mu }_t)\ge (t-s)L$. Combining the bounds and using symmetry provesThis is the constant speed property of displacement interpolation. The given invertibility of $P_s$ also lets one realize the competitor as the map $P_t\circ P_s^{-1}$, assuming its inverse is measurable, but the transport plan argument proves the result without invertibility.

The head of the Brownian snake driven by $g$ is the centered Gaussian process $(Z_t{)}_{0\le t\le 1}$ with covariance function $\mathbb{E}[Z_s{Z}_t]=m_g(s,t)$. Part i shows that these finite-dimensional distributions exist consistently. Moreover,If $g$ has Hölder constant $L$, then $d_g(s,t)\le 2L|t-s{|}^{\alpha }$. The absolute moment formula for a centered normal distribution consequently gives, for every $p\ge 2$,The Kolmogorov continuity theorem, with $p$ arbitrarily large, produces a modification that is $\gamma$-Hölder continuous for every $\gamma <\alpha /2$. Taking $\gamma =\alpha /2-\epsilon$ proves the claim whenever $0<\epsilon <\alpha /2$; for larger $\epsilon$ the assertion is vacuous.

For $1\le p<\infty$ and probability measures with finite $p$th absolute moments,where $\rho$ is the ground metric and $\pi$ ranges over transport plans. For $p=2$ this is the second Wasserstein distance.