Asymmetric Brownian interval-exit transform 2026-10-14
For standard Brownian motion started at zero and exit time from , , stop the two exponential Brownian martingales with parameters and . Their stopped values are bounded by . The optional stopping theorem and dominated convergence theorem give and , where are the discounted upper and lower exit probabilities. Solving gives the displayed formula and . ThusAt , the first ratio has its removable value , and the second equals one. Finiteness of follows from a uniformly positive one-unit-time chance to leave any fixed bounded interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 32 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The exit time is finite almost surely. Indeed, if the Brownian motion is still in at an integer time, its next unit increment exceeds with a fixed probability independent of the past; on this event it must exit before the next integer time. Consequently . Path continuity gives , and the two exit events partition the probability space up to null sets.
For each real , the exponential Brownian martingale has expectation one. This follows directly from the moment-generating function of a normal distribution and independent increments. At its value is bounded by . Bounded-time optional stopping and then dominated convergence therefore giveWrite and . Applying the identity to and yieldsFor , multiply the first equation by , the second by , and subtract. Solving the resulting system givesAdding and using the sum formula for the hyperbolic sine gives the asymmetric Brownian interval-exit transform:At , the printed sine ratio is and needs its removable extension. Dominated convergence as givesThus the formulas hold for every real parameter with this endpoint convention. The expectation on the left of the first formula is legible in the original PDF; the converted TeX's nested exponential is an OCR error.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 27 5 c 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the positive exponential Brownian martingaleThe strong law for Brownian motion, , makes its exponent tend to and hence . If , then . Part (b) gives, for ,Thus the maximum is exponentially distributed with rate :There is no atom at zero, by letting in the tail. This is the infinite-horizon crossing probability for Brownian motion with negative drift.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 29K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The price process is a geometric Brownian motion withPutand define the equivalent measure on by the exponential Brownian martingaleThe Cameron-Martin-Girsanov theorem says that is Brownian motion under . Thereforeso is a -martingale. This is the unique equivalent martingale measure, since cancellation of the single Brownian risk forces the displayed drift shift.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 29K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For , the increment is independent of and is . HenceAlso , so is the exponential Brownian martingale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 201 4 a Solution 2026-09-28
For , write . The increment is independent of and is normally distributed with variance . Its moment generating function givesThe process is integrable for every real , so it is the exponential Brownian martingale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 202 3 c Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
By the Reflection invariance of Brownian motion, is Brownian motion, and the first time reaches is the first time reaches . Part b therefore gives
Now is the exponential Brownian martingale. At , the identity gives , so . The nonnegative stopped martingale therefore loses no mass at infinity and is uniformly integrable. The optional sampling theorem at any stopping time gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 202 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Apply Itô formula to . Its semimartingale decomposition isThe second term is a continuous finite-variation process. Since is assumed to be a local martingale, uniqueness of the semimartingale decomposition makes this term identically zero. Both and are nonzero, so the quadratic variation of is .
The Lévy characterization of Brownian motion now says that is a Brownian motion. Consequentlyis a constant multiple of an exponential Brownian martingale. It is therefore a true martingale for every .
For a continuous semimartingale and a function , Itô's formula isFor Brownian motion , . With , the drift cancels:ConsequentlyThe stochastic-integral representation makes this a local martingale; localization handles unbounded . In fact it is the average of the two positive exponential Brownian martingales and , so it is a true martingale on every finite time interval.