Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / iii / Paper 33 / 2 / b / Solution

The one-dimensional Lévy characterization of Brownian motion states: a continuous adapted process $L$, with $L_0=0$, is standard Brownian motion relative to its filtration if and only if it is a local martingale and $[L{]}_t=t$ for all $t$ almost surely.

For necessity, the centered independent Gaussian increments of Brownian motion give both the martingale property and the martingale $L_t^2-t$. The uniqueness characterization of quadratic variation then gives $[L{]}_t=t$.

For sufficiency fix $\theta \in \mathbb{R}$. The Itô formula givesThe second-order term cancels the time derivative because $d[L{]}_t=dt$. Thus $E$ is a complex local martingale. Its modulus is the deterministic quantity $e^{{\theta }^{2}t/2}$, bounded on every finite horizon, so its real and imaginary parts are true martingales by the bounded local martingale criterion. For $s<t$,Uniqueness of characteristic functions says that the increment has normal distribution $N(0,t-s)$ independently of ${\mathcal{F}}_s$. Indeed multiplying the identity by any bounded ${\mathcal{F}}_s$-measurable variable gives the product characteristic-function identity expressing independence. Iterating over deterministic times gives independent increments. Together with continuity and $L_0=0$, these are precisely the defining properties of standard Brownian motion. If the starting value is a fixed $x$, the same argument identifies $L-x$ as standard Brownian motion.