On a fixed underlying set, a pi-system is a nonempty family closed under finite intersections. A Dynkin system, also called a d-system, contains the whole underlying set, is closed under complements relative to it, and under countable disjoint unions. Equivalently it is closed under differences of nested members and increasing countable unions. A sigma-algebra contains the whole set, is closed under complements and arbitrary countable unions, hence also countable intersections. A Dynkin system need not be a sigma-algebra unless additional intersection closure is available.
If is measure-preserving, equality holds on every measurable set and hence on the specified -system. Conversely, let . Both finite measures have equal total mass. Therefore , complements of members remain in by subtracting from the finite total mass, and disjoint countable unions remain in by countable additivity. Thus is a Dynkin system.
It contains the generating pi-system , so Dynkin lemma gives . Consequently
This is exactly the measure-preserving property.
Dynkin lemma, also called the pi-lambda theorem, states that if a Dynkin system contains a pi-system , then
Let be the smallest Dynkin system containing . It is enough to prove that is a sigma-algebra, because then
First fix and define
This is a Dynkin system. It contains because ; closure under relative complements follows from
and closure under disjoint unions follows by distributing over the union. Since is closed under intersections, . Minimality therefore gives
Thus whenever and .
Now fix and define
The same argument shows that is a Dynkin system, and the preceding paragraph shows that it contains . Hence . We have proved that is itself a pi-system.
A Dynkin system that is also a pi-system is a sigma-algebra: it is closed under arbitrary finite intersections, hence finite unions by complements, and any countable union can be disjointified before using closure under disjoint unions. Therefore , proving the lemma.
Fix and let
This is a Dynkin system. It contains . If , then
so it is closed under complements. Countable additivity gives closure under countable disjoint unions.
The hypothesis says . Since is a pi-system, Dynkin lemma yields
Thus the factorization holds for every and every .
Now fix such a and define
The identical calculation makes a Dynkin system. The first step gives , so a second application of Dynkin lemma gives
Therefore the probability factorization holds for every
which is precisely independence of the two sigma-algebras. This is independence extended from generating pi-systems.
Let . The limit from part (c) is -measurable because each is. If , then for some , and for every ,
The convergence lets us pass to the limit and obtain .
The sets on which this identity holds form a Dynkin system, and is a generating pi-system. The Dynkin lemma therefore extends the identity to every . Consequently has both defining properties of , established here without appealing to the general existence theorem.
Pi-lambda theorem 2026-10-03
If a Dynkin system contains a pi-system, then it contains the sigma-algebra generated by that pi-system. This proves uniqueness of finite measures from agreement on a generating pi-system.