Write for the driving Brownian motion throughout; the two symbols in the displayed formulas refer to the same process. For the deterministic integrand is square-integrable on , so
is well defined. The Itô product rule, with zero quadratic covariation against the deterministic factor, gives
For the other form, apply the same Itô product rule to :
Multiplying by gives the stochastic integral representation of a Brownian bridge
The drift coefficient is singular only at the terminal endpoint, so this calculation is performed on compact subintervals of .
Write the diffusion process as , with . Its diffusion generator is
The Itô formula says that is a local martingale, and is a true martingale when the stopped terms are integrable. Taking expectations gives Dynkin formula for a diffusion. This is the bridge from infinitesimal stochastic dynamics to differential equations.
For the transition semigroup , the Markov property gives . On a smooth generator domain where differentiation is valid, differentiating the semigroup identity yields the Kolmogorov backward equation , with initial value . If a transition density exists, integration against smooth compactly supported tests and integration by parts give the Fokker-Planck equation
The backward equation acts on the starting point, while this forward equation describes the evolving probability density.
Here is a full representation proof with a source and potential. Suppose is nonexplosive, is bounded, are bounded, and is a bounded classical solution on a finite slab of
For a process started from at time , put . The Itô product rule gives
Therefore is a local martingale. It is bounded in absolute value by , so it is a true martingale, without requiring a global derivative bound. Its endpoint expectations give the parabolic Feynman-Kac formula with a source
This proves uniqueness in the bounded classical class. Setting recovers the backward heat or diffusion representation; the minus sign in the killing term produces the negative exponential.
For an elliptic problem, stop at the first exit from a bounded regular domain . Suppose , is bounded and solves with boundary data . The same calculation, stopped at , gives a martingale dominated by . Continuity puts on the boundary. Taking the limit and using dominated convergence gives the elliptic Feynman-Kac formula
For , harmonic functions for give stopped martingales and are averages of their exit-boundary values. For Brownian motion , this is the probabilistic solution of the Dirichlet problem. Suitable smooth coefficients and uniform ellipticity give familiar settings where the required diffusion, exit-time integrability and classical solutions exist. The representation itself follows from the stated regularity and integrability conditions, rather than claiming classical solvability for arbitrary coefficients.
The Itô product rule with a deterministic integrating factor gives
Integrating from zero proves
Both coefficients are globally Lipschitz, so part (a) proves that this is the pathwise unique solution. Under a measure where is a Brownian motion, the solution is centered Gaussian with variance . The positive drift sign gives an unstable linear diffusion rather than a mean-reverting one.
Use one -dimensional Brownian motion to couple the diffusion processes
The global existence theorem for stochastic differential equations with Lipschitz coefficients supplies a unique nonexplosive strong stochastic solution. Let be the deterministic drift trajectory. Subtraction and the Gronwall inequality give, on every finite horizon ,
This also follows directly from the integral equations with continuous forcing, so the coupling can be chosen simultaneously for all .
For completeness derive the needed Feynman-Kac formula with its potential sign. For fixed , apply the Itô formula and the Itô product rule to
Its drift is the exponential factor times , which vanishes by the partial differential equation. It is a local martingale. Boundedness of on the finite time slab and boundedness of make bounded there, so it is a true martingale. Its endpoint expectations give
The deterministic trajectory on is compact. Uniform pathwise convergence puts all sufficiently small-noise paths in a fixed compact neighbourhood of that trajectory. Continuity of therefore implies ; global uniform continuity of is not required. Continuity of gives convergence of the terminal factor. Finally,
The dominated convergence theorem proves the zero-noise limit with a bounded potential:
At this is the given initial condition. All boundedness arguments concern a fixed finite horizon; no uniform bound over infinite time is needed.
Use for the dollar amount invested in the stock; the number of shares is . The bank account contains dollars. With no intermediate consumption, the self-financing portfolio equation is
If instead denotes share holdings, replace each dollar here by . The equation says that trading only reallocates existing portfolio wealth; gains come from cash interest and stock returns.
For the standard unconstrained complete-diffusion formulation, assume the completed natural Brownian filtration, initial wealth , and nonnegative admissible wealth. Define the market price of risk . The boundedness assumptions make bounded. The state-price density normalized at zero is
Its money-market-adjusted process is a true martingale by the Novikov condition. Under , the Girsanov theorem gives as a Brownian motion, and the discounted stock has zero drift.
The Itô product rule applied to the wealth equation gives
For nonnegative admissible wealth this is a nonnegative local martingale, hence a supermartingale. Therefore every affordable terminal payoff satisfies the state-price budget constraint . Nonzero volatility and the Brownian martingale representation theorem allow replication of nonnegative claims with finite state-price cost.
For a differentiable strictly concave utility function with the usual conditions ensuring an interior integrable optimizer, put , the inverse marginal utility. Pointwise maximization of gives
The second equation determines the positive constant . To prove optimality, use the concave supporting-tangent inequality:
Taking expectations and using the budget bound proves that the candidate dominates every admissible affordable payoff, whenever the utility expectations are well defined. This is the complete-market terminal utility optimizer.
The actual wealth and dollar portfolio are as explicit as general adapted coefficients permit. Let
The Brownian martingale representation theorem, with localization if only integrability is initially known, gives . The dollar portfolio from a deflated wealth martingale is
The bank holds dollars. Equivalently, with , . These formulas need no unjustified differentiability of a value function with random coefficients.
The printed assumption that is only increasing and concave does not guarantee that the interior formula exists, or even that the optimal value is finite. In general replace the inverse formula by an affordable selection
where is the wealth domain; boundary choices or supporting slopes handle nondifferentiability. Existence, finite cost and replication still have to hold. A concrete obstruction is the unbounded linear terminal-wealth utility: take , , , and the Brownian filtration. Then . For , the bounded nonnegative claim
is replicable, costs , and has . Thus there is no finite optimal expected utility under the literal utility hypotheses alone. Also, bounded coefficients do not ensure market completeness in an arbitrarily enlarged filtration containing untraded randomness; the full replication formula uses the Brownian market information assumption stated above.
Use the usual stochastic-integrability assumptions implicit in the price stochastic differential equation: the coefficients have progressively measurable versions, the volatility is locally square integrable, and initial prices are finite deterministic positive numbers. A no-consumption admissible trading strategy consists of predictable risky share holdings for which the price stochastic integral exists and the portfolio wealth of the self-financing portfolio is
The remainder is held in the unit cash asset. Admissibility requires throughout the horizon for some deterministic finite ; the more restrictive nonnegative-wealth convention also works. A finite-horizon arbitrage is such a strategy with , almost surely and . The lower bound is essential to exclude doubling strategies.
Interpret the stated uniform ellipticity as for a deterministic . If , the market price of risk is bounded:
The authoritative PDF puts both integrals inside the exponent. With that interpretation,
On every finite horizon , boundedness of gives the Novikov condition:
Hence the positive stochastic exponential is a true martingale with . Define the equivalent probability measure by . The Girsanov theorem says that is a Brownian motion under , up to time . Consequently
so the prices are local martingales under .
Every admissible zero-initial-capital self-financing portfolio has portfolio wealth which is therefore a -local martingale bounded below by . The shifted process is a nonnegative local martingale, hence a supermartingale by localization and the Conditional Fatou lemma. In particular . If the strategy were an arbitrage, nonnegativity of would force -almost surely. Equivalence of and would then force , a contradiction. The market has no admissible arbitrage on any finite horizon. This proves the exclusion argument itself, rather than just asserting the fundamental theorem of asset pricing.
For the deflated price calculation, let denote the column vector whose transpose is the th row of . The Itô product rule includes the quadratic covariation term
Since , the full product equation is
Localization makes the last stochastic integral a true martingale on each stopped interval, proving each component of the deflated price vector is a local martingale under the original measure. This is the bounded-coefficient asset deflator identity; bounded volatility has not yet been used.
If is bounded, then is bounded as well. Solving the last linear stochastic differential equation gives
The Novikov condition now holds for this stochastic exponential on every finite horizon, because its bracket is bounded by a deterministic constant times the horizon. Therefore
The entire deflated price vector is a true martingale when volatility is bounded. This finite-horizon argument does not assert uniform integrability as time tends to infinity, which is not required. Integrable random initial prices can also be handled by the conditional martingale argument; without any integrability assumption on initial prices, a true-martingale assertion would not be meaningful.
A martingale describes an observable after its predictable drift has been removed. For a Markov chain the drift is the change produced by its transition operator; for Brownian motion it is one half of the Laplacian. Requiring the resulting processes to be martingales for a sufficiently rich class of observables determines the transition law itself. The same identities, combined with optional stopping, determine hitting probabilities, expected exit times and recurrence or transience. The duplicated Q5 paragraph in the PDF is a repeated printing of this one essay request.
For a finite or countable-state Markov chain with transition matrix , define for a bounded test function . The Markov property says . Consequently
is a martingale, since each increment has conditional expected value zero. Conversely, if these processes are martingales for every bounded , taking the conditional expectation of an increment recovers that identity. With it gives for every state . Thus, given the initial law, these identities characterize the Markov chain, not merely a few of its moments. This is the discrete-time Markov chain martingale characterization.
The drift operator is . If away from a target set, is a stopped martingale, where is the first hit of that set. Under boundedness or suitable uniform integrability, the optional stopping theorem expresses in terms of boundary hitting probabilities. Similarly, if away from the target and on it, then is a martingale, giving when the terminal limit is justified.
For a concrete calculation, take a simple symmetric random walk on stopped at , its first hit of or . In the interior, has zero drift, while satisfies
The stopped identity gives , proving finite with finite mean. Bounded convergence in both stopped identities now yields the gambler's ruin answers
This illustrates why the integrability justification is part of using a martingale, rather than an automatic consequence of writing an equation.
For a finite-state continuous-time Markov chain with generator matrix , the corresponding martingale problem for a continuous-time Markov chain uses
These are martingales. Conversely, suppose an adapted càdlàg finite-state process satisfies these identities. Let , fix , and set . Then . Apply deterministic integration by parts to the finite collection of indicator martingales to obtain the time-dependent Dynkin formula: is a martingale. Therefore
This recovers the Markov property and the entire semigroup, proving the characterization. On countable spaces one uses nonexplosion and localization to justify the analogous unbounded-rate formulas.
For -dimensional Brownian motion, the Itô formula shows that, for ,
is a true martingale, since its bounded derivatives make the integral square-integrable on each bounded horizon. This is the martingale problem for Brownian motion with generator .
Here is why it also characterizes Brownian motion. Suppose a continuous adapted process , with , satisfies that martingale problem. Use smooth cutoff test functions equal to and inside successively larger balls, and stop before leaving those balls. The coordinate tests show that are continuous local martingales; the product tests show that are local martingales. The Itô product rule consequently gives
the difference between the two proposed compensators is a continuous finite-variation local martingale, hence constant and zero at time zero. For each , another application of the Itô formula gives the exponential local martingale
Its modulus is the deterministic quantity , so it is a true martingale on every bounded time interval. Taking its conditional expectation and dividing by its known value at time gives
The conditional characteristic function identifies a centered multivariate normal distribution of covariance , independent of the past. Together with continuity, this is the defining law of Brownian motion. This proves the Lévy characterization of multidimensional Brownian motion in the form needed for the generator characterization.
The analytic use of these martingales parallels the chain case. A harmonic function satisfies , so it yields a stopped local martingale until the process leaves its domain of harmonicity. Bounded stopped observables permit optional stopping and solve boundary hitting problems. A solution of with zero boundary values gives an expected exit time. For example, in the ball of radius , gives ; stopping first at proves finiteness and justifies the limiting calculation. The Brownian local time construction in Q4 is another example: the predictable compensators of approximations to recover its increasing occupation term.
We now prove the required three-dimensional transience of Brownian motion in dimension at least three, in the strong sense almost surely. Start first at a point with , and let be the first exit from this annulus. The radial Laplacian in dimension three gives
Thus is a bounded martingale. The exit time is finite: stopping gives . At exit, continuity puts at either or . The optional stopping theorem therefore yields
and hence the Brownian sphere-hitting probability in dimension three
As , the events increase to : a continuous path is bounded on the finite interval preceding any finite inner hit. This argument assumes no transience. Consequently
To pass from a positive escape probability to almost-sure eventual escape, take Brownian motion started at zero. Let be its first hit of the sphere of radius . Stopping the squared-norm martingale proves . At , the Strong Markov property and the preceding hitting formula give
The Strong Markov property here follows from independent Brownian increments by approximating a stopping time from above with dyadic-valued stopping times and using path continuity. Choose . The exit times increase to infinity, since a continuous path is bounded on every compact time interval. The events of a return to the closed ball of radius after decrease and have probabilities . Their intersection has probability zero. Thus almost surely there is some finite exit time after which the path never again enters that ball. Apply this simultaneously to all positive integer . This proves the last visit to a bounded ball for three-dimensional Brownian motion conclusion and therefore
The common Brownian motion cancels from the difference . Before either lifetime,
Hence and : if reached zero first, the positive smaller solution could not persist beyond that time. Write
Using the Itô formula for gives
The difference has finite variation, so there is no cross-variation term in the Itô product rule for . Since ,
For , the Itô formula therefore makes its drift vanish exactly when
A nonconstant increasing scale function of a one-dimensional diffusion satisfies
The assumptions and are precisely the integrability conditions at zero and one. Normalize the scale function by its endpoints:
Here is the regularized incomplete beta function. The normalized function is continuous and strictly increasing on , with and . We have obtained the local martingale
The terminal identification needs care; mere boundedness does not by itself say what happens when both lifetimes coincide. Stop first on compact subsets of , and then exhaust the interval . The bounded local martingale criterion makes a bounded martingale with a limit , and optional sampling theorem gives . For completeness, applying the Itô formula to each stopped bounds the expected quadratic variation by one. Monotone convergence over the localization sequence implies
Since is continuous on , itself has a limit .
On , while , so and . On , the supplied divergent clock is
If , then eventually is bounded below by a positive constant. This remains true if its limit is one: diverges there, rather than tending to zero. The divergent clock would then force , contradicting the finite quadratic variation. Thus and on the simultaneous-lifetime event. We have proved
Taking expectations yields the complete probability formula
This is the beta integral for strict ordering of coupled Bessel lifetimes; the complementary probability is the probability of simultaneous swallowing, not of the larger initial point dying first.
To connect the calculation to SLE, let its driver be . For a positive boundary point before its boundary swallowing time, put . The Chordal Loewner equation gives
Thus two positive boundary points give exactly the coupled Bessel processes above, with and . The interval corresponds to . Their boundary swallowing times obey
The formula quantifies whether the growing hull separates one boundary point from infinity before the other, or swallows them together inside the same boundary interval. It does not identify swallowing with visiting each point. At , the two beta parameters are and this becomes the Cardy boundary crossing formula in the corresponding cross-ratio coordinate, explaining its role in the conformal invariance of planar percolation.
Define the quadratic covariation of two continuous semimartingales by polarization:
The available quadratic variation convergence theorem and the polarization identity imply that the sums of products of simultaneous grid increments converge in uniform convergence on compacts in probability to . The quadratic covariation is a continuous finite-variation process, vanishing at time zero.
For a grid ending at , the elementary algebraic identity
telescopes. The first two sums converge by part (a), with the continuous processes as integrands; continuous paths are left-continuous and locally bounded. The last sum converges to the quadratic covariation by the preceding polarization argument. Finally, locally uniformly by continuity. Hence
This is the Itô product rule, or stochastic integration by parts. Uniqueness of the limit in uniform convergence on compacts in probability, followed by continuity, makes the identity hold simultaneously for all outside one null set. The proof used finite-grid algebra, part (a), and the permitted quadratic variation theorem; it did not use the Itô formula.
Use the discounted wealth and the discounted dividend gains
The integral uses : the printed inside an integral indexed by is a differential typo. Since is a positive finite-variation process, the Itô product rule gives
The bank-account terms cancel using .
If is a -martingale, discounted self-financing wealth is a -local martingale. The admissible trading strategy lower bound makes it a supermartingale, exactly as in the previous no-arbitrage proof. A zero-cost portfolio with nonnegative terminal wealth must therefore have terminal wealth zero -almost surely and, by equivalence, physically almost surely. Hence an equivalent martingale measure for discounted dividend gains excludes arbitrage. It is the gains process, not just the ex-dividend price ratio, that must have zero martingale drift.
Apply the Itô product rule and the quadratic covariation rule for a stochastic integral. The finite variation consumption term has zero quadratic covariation with , so
Using and the wealth equation,
Thus the deflated wealth equation with consumption is
No finite variation assumption on is needed: the self-financing equation and the stochastic-integral quadratic covariation rule already incorporate the portfolio's financing constraint.
Let be the quadratic variation. We use bilinear quadratic covariation for the complex martingale: . The Itô formula gives
By the Itô product rule, the finite-variation part of is
Part (a) says the product is a martingale, so uniqueness of the continuous semimartingale decomposition makes this finite-variation part zero. For , division gives
For , and both sides are zero, so the identity holds without exception.
Put . The Itô formula gives
The explicit decreasing exponential contributes half the finite-variation term; the other half is the quadratic correction from . Now the Itô product rule and part (b) yield
The finite-variation terms cancel because . This proves the product is a local martingale. Moreover and . The bounded local martingale criterion therefore proves the product is a true martingale.
Apply the Itô product rule to the deterministic discount factor and :
The prescribed differential equation makes the drift vanish. Therefore
This is the discounted generator-eigenfunction martingale underlying the Feynman-Kac formula.
Assume the usual positive initial asset values. The coefficients determine a unique normalized local martingale deflator. The state-price density and local deflator distinction matters here: calling it a state-price density uses the local convention, while true expectation pricing needs an additional qualification, addressed below.
Let and be local martingales, with . The Brownian martingale representation theorem says that every local martingale in the usual natural Brownian filtration is continuous and is a stochastic integral against . Applying it to , and dividing by the positive finite-variation account, forces
for a locally square-integrable predictable . The Itô product rule for has drift
It must vanish. Since are positive, this yields
Conversely this drift choice makes both and local martingales. Continuity and strict positivity of make bounded along each path on every finite time interval, so its pathwise square integral is finite. The unique linear SDE solution is
Uniqueness follows from the forced drift and diffusion coefficients and uniqueness of this linear stochastic differential equation.
Continuity alone does not make the density a true martingale. For a true equivalent martingale measure, the stochastic exponential must have expectation one, for example under the Novikov condition on each horizon. True martingale pricing of all desired deflated payoffs also requires the relevant integrability. These stronger conclusions do not follow just from pathwise continuity.
An explicit counterexample to the stronger reading uses a three-dimensional Bessel process with and , which is a positive strong solution in the Brownian filtration. Take and . Then , and are continuous and . The unique local candidate is , with . The reciprocal three-dimensional Bessel strict local martingale is not a true martingale. To verify the loss of expectation, use the standard Bessel transition density
Integrating gives for , where is the standard normal cumulative distribution function. A true pricing density for the constant bank account would have expectation one. Hence the printed hypotheses establish the local deflator statement, while a true-density reading needs an additional condition and is false as stated.
Let and be predictable holdings in the stock and account, with the stochastic integrability needed for a self-financing portfolio. Then and . The Itô product rule and self-financing identity give
Since and , the finite-variation term is zero. Therefore
and the deflated wealth is a local martingale.
For zero-capital nonnegative wealth under a local deflator, a nonnegative local martingale is a supermartingale, by localization and the Conditional Fatou lemma. Under the required nonnegative-wealth condition, and starts at zero, so . Thus almost surely at every fixed . Strict positivity of gives almost surely. Taking a countable intersection over rational times and then using continuous wealth paths strengthens this to
This argument only needs the local deflator, so it remains valid without promoting to a true martingale.
Here the bank account is continuous and of finite variation, but for its rate is . This is integrable at zero, so the account itself is well defined. The stock satisfies . The previous continuity hypothesis on the rate no longer holds at the initial time.
Suppose a positive normalized state-price density existed; even a local martingale deflator would suffice for a contradiction. Then would be a continuous local martingale by the Brownian martingale representation theorem. Dividing by the positive continuous account gives continuous , with , and
The Itô product rule for forces its drift to vanish, so for almost every positive time. Continuity and imply that each path has a positive interval on which . But then
contradicting the local square-integrability required for the stochastic integral. Thus
This is the singular initial market-price-of-risk obstruction: the necessary market price of risk is , whose squared integral diverges at zero. On an interval starting at a strictly positive time this particular obstruction disappears; the initial-time normalization is essential.
Use . Applying the Itô formula and the Itô product rule gives
The finite-variation terms cancel in the prescribed combination, leaving
Thus is initially a continuous local martingale. It is a true martingale, not merely local. On each fixed horizon ,
Part (a) with , the assumed bracket moments and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality make this bound integrable. The integrable-supremum martingale criterion now applies, by localization and dominated conditional expectations. The same reasoning makes a martingale, so .
The zero covariance now means . Since and ,
This is the fourth-moment deficit and bracket variance identity. If equality holds for every , then almost surely for each . Take a single probability-one event for all rational times and use continuity to obtain simultaneously for all times. The Lévy characterization of Brownian motion then proves is Brownian motion in its given filtration. A proof of that characterization by conditional characteristic functions is included in Question 2(a).
Put . The deterministic derivative is , and , while . The Itô product rule with a deterministic smooth function gives
Almost every Brownian path is continuous, hence belongs to . Its Fourier coefficient in the given orthonormal basis is therefore . The Parseval identity for a Hilbertian basis gives, pathwise on a probability-one event,
This is the squared-norm consequence of the Brownian half-integer sine expansion; completeness, rather than pointwise convergence of a Fourier series, is all that is needed.