Brownian hitting of lattice spheres 2026-10-05
For three-dimensional Brownian motion, every radius and every initial point satisfyIf the initial point is on one of the spheres, it is already a hit at time zero. If it is inside a lattice-centered open ball, its eventual exit hits that sphere. Otherwise choose at each integer time a nearest lattice center. The current displacement from it has norm at most , so the multivariate normal distribution of the next unit increment gives a uniform positive chance of entering its radius- open ball. The geometric tail bound from a uniform escape probability makes eventual entry certain, and continuity forces a boundary crossing. This periodic-family recurrence does not contradict the Brownian sphere-hitting probability in dimension three for one fixed sphere.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 201 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For , the increments have exponential momentThus is an exponential martingale of a random walk relative to the natural filtration. We justify its stopping limit. From any surviving state in , a block of successive increments all equal to forces an exit. The block has probability , independently of the preceding increments. The geometric tail bound from a uniform escape probability givesso is finite almost surely and has finite expectation.
At the lower exit exactly; at the upper exit is either or . Before exit the same overall bound holds. Hence is bounded by , uniformly in . The bounded optional stopping theorem gives , and the dominated convergence theorem now yieldsAllowing the upper overshoot by one is essential; the terminal state need not equal on upper exit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 201 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let , , and . The function is harmonic away from the origin: its radial Laplacian in dimension three isThe Itô formula therefore makes a local martingale, bounded between and , hence a true martingale. The annulus exit time is finite almost surely. For instance, exit from the containing open ball is finite because from every point in the open ball a sufficiently large Gaussian vector increment has a uniform positive probability of leaving it in unit time; iterate the geometric tail bound from a uniform escape probability.
The optional stopping theorem at , followed by the dominated convergence theorem, gives . By continuity, there is no radial overshoot and the two exit spheres cannot be hit simultaneously. Writing givesAll harmonicity and boundedness statements apply only in the annulus, which stays away from the singularity at zero.