Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / iii / Paper 27 / 6 / a

Define the diffusion generator $L=b{\partial }_x+{\sigma }^2{\partial }_{xx}/2$. Fix a horizon $t$ and start the strong solution from the deterministic state $x$. The Itô formula applied to the time-reversed test function givesThe drift vanishes by the Kolmogorov backward equation. This is initially a local martingale; localization on compact state/time sets justifies the stochastic integral without a global derivative bound. Since $u$ itself is bounded, this local martingale is a true martingale on $[0,t]$. Its two endpoint expectations giveThis is the bounded backward-equation stochastic representation. Starting the strong solution at deterministic $x$ is the precise meaning of the conditional notation at $X_0=x$. Also $f=u(0,\cdot )$ is bounded, even though boundedness was not separately imposed on $f$.