Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / iii / Paper 34 / 3

The real L2 space on a probability space consists of equivalence classes of measurable functions $X:\Omega \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfying $\mathbb{E}[X^2]<\infty$, where two random variables represent the same element if they are equal almost surely. Its norm isPassing to equivalence classes makes this a genuine norm: $\Vert X{\Vert }_2=0$ exactly when $X=0$ almost surely. The Minkowski inequality gives the triangle inequality.

Let $(X_n)$ be a Cauchy sequence in this norm. Choose an increasing sequence of indices $n_k$ such thatThis is possible by choosing $n_k$ beyond a Cauchy threshold for tolerance $2^{-k}$. Set $D_k=X_{n_{k+1}}-X_{n_k}$. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality on a probability space gives $\mathbb{E}|D_k|\le \Vert D_k{\Vert }_2$. By Tonelli theorem,Thus the series of absolute differences is finite almost surely. Define $X=X_{n_1}+{\sum }_{k\ge 1}{D}_k$ on this probability-one event, and give it the value zero on its complement. It is a measurable function, and $X_{n_k}\to X$ almost surely.

For $l>k$, the Minkowski inequality givesApply the Fatou lemma to the squared difference as $l\to \infty$. It follows thatIn particular $X-X_{n_1}\in L^2$, and therefore $X\in L^2$ by the Minkowski inequality. This proves convergence in L2 of the subsequence. To recover the entire sequence, for a prescribed $\epsilon >0$ choose a Cauchy threshold $N$ for $\epsilon /2$, then choose $k$ with $n_k\ge N$ and $\Vert X-X_{n_k}{\Vert }_2<\epsilon /2$. For every $n\ge N$,Hence $\boxed{X_n\to X\text{ in }{L}^2}$, proving completeness of Lp spaces for $p=2$ without assuming the desired completeness in the argument.

A filtration $({\mathcal{F}}_n{)}_{n\ge 0}$ on a probability space is an increasing sequence of sigma-algebras contained in $\mathcal{F}$: ${\mathcal{F}}_n\subseteq {\mathcal{F}}_{n+1}$. A real stochastic process $(X_n)$ is a martingale for this filtration if $X_n$ is ${\mathcal{F}}_n$-measurable, $\mathbb{E}|X_n|<\infty$, andThe first condition is adaptedness; the tower property of conditional expectation then gives $\mathbb{E}[X_n\mid {\mathcal{F}}_m]=X_m$ whenever $m\le n$.

The almost-sure martingale convergence theorem states that if a real martingale satisfies ${\sup }_n\mathbb{E}|X_n|<\infty$, then some integrable random variable $X_{\infty }$ satisfies $X_n\to X_{\infty }$ almost surely. The more general almost sure submartingale convergence theorem needs only ${\sup }_n\mathbb{E}[X_n^{+}]<\infty$ for a submartingale. In particular, a nonnegative martingale converges to a finite integrable limit almost surely, because its expected value is constant. Mere boundedness in the L1 norm does not imply convergence in L1. The stronger uniformly integrable martingale convergence theorem gives both almost-sure convergence and convergence in L1 when the martingale is uniformly integrable.

The martingale property gives $\mathbb{E}[X_n\mid {\mathcal{F}}_m]=X_m$. Both $X_m$ and $X_n$ are square-integrable, so their product is integrable by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Using the ${\mathcal{F}}_m$-measurability of $X_m$ in conditional expectation givesThe pull-out step for the possibly unbounded $X_m$ can be justified by first truncating it, then passing to the limit in the L2 norm and using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Expanding the square now yieldsThe left side is nonnegative. Thus $a_n=\mathbb{E}[X_n^2]$ is nondecreasing and bounded above by $M$, and so $a_n\to a\le M$. For $m\le n$,By symmetry of the norm difference this proves that $(X_n)$ is a Cauchy sequence in the L2 space. The completeness established in part (a) gives an $X_{\infty }\in L^2$ withThis is the L2-bounded martingale convergence theorem, derived from martingale-difference orthogonality and completeness. The same sequence also converges almost surely by part (b), since $\mathbb{E}|X_n|\le \sqrt{M}$; uniqueness of a limit in probability identifies that limit with this $X_{\infty }$.