Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / iii / Paper 24 / 6

Sample Brownian motion at integer times and put $Z_n=B_n/\sqrt{n}$. Every $Z_n$ has normal distribution $N(0,1)$, although the $Z_n$ are correlated. LetFor every fixed integer $m$,because $B_m/\sqrt{n}\to 0$ almost surely. The right-hand expression depends only on the future independent increments $B_j-B_{j-1}$ with $j>m$. Thus $\{L\ge a\}$ is, up to a null set, a tail event of those independent increments, and its probability is zero or one by the Kolmogorov zero-one law.

For any finite real $a$, every $Z_n$ exceeds $a$ with the same positive probability $p_a=\mathbb{P}(N(0,1)\ge a)$. For each $N$,Taking the decreasing intersection over $N$ shows that $Z_n\ge a$ infinitely often with probability at least $p_a$. This event implies $L\ge a$, so $\mathbb{P}(L\ge a)>0$. The zero-one law makes it one. Intersecting over positive integers $a$ gives $L=+\infty$ almost surely. The continuous-time limit superior is at least the one along integers, henceThis proves that Brownian fluctuations exceed the square-root scale without needing the lower bound in the law of the iterated logarithm.

For $t>e$, put $\Phi (t)=\sqrt{2t\log \log t}$. Fix $a>1$ and $\epsilon >0$, and setfor $n$ large enough that $a^n>e$. The Brownian reflection principle and the Gaussian tail estimate giveSince $(1+\epsilon {)}^2>1$, the sum of these probabilities is finite. The Borel-Cantelli first lemma implies that, almost surely, for all sufficiently large $n$,Now take $t\in [a^{n-1},a^n]$. The function $\Phi$ is increasing for $t>e$, soHere the positive upper bound for $B_t$ can first be divided by $\Phi (t)$, and the denominator can then be bounded below by $\Phi (a^{n-1})$; this remains valid even when $B_t<0$. Moreover,Thus, for each fixed pair $(a,\epsilon )$,Use the countable choices $a_m=1+1/m$ and ${\epsilon }_m=1/m$, intersect their probability-one events, and let $m\to \infty$. This proves the Brownian upper law of the iterated logarithm:Only large times are involved. The hint's related monotonicity assertion for $\Phi (t)/t$ is also valid eventually: the derivative of $2\log \log t/t$ is $2(1/\log t-\log \log t)/t^2$, which is negative for $t\ge e^e$. No monotonicity at the small-time edge of the logarithmic expression is required.