Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 202 / 2

Use polarization identity of the quadratic variations:This is continuous and adapted, starts at zero, and has finite variation on every compact interval because it is a difference of two nondecreasing processes. The defining quadratic variation property gives that $(M+N{)}^2-[M+N]$ and $(M-N{)}^2-[M-N]$ are continuous local martingales; their difference divided by four is $MN-[M,N]$. This proves existence without assuming a product formula involving an as yet undefined quadratic covariation.

If $C$ and $D$ both satisfy the requirements, $C-D$ is a continuous finite-variation process and a local martingale. By continuous finite-variation local martingale is constant, it is constant; its initial value is zero, so $C=D$ up to indistinguishability of stochastic processes.

There is a minor initial-value convention in this characterization. The displayed uncentred local martingale identity is directly valid when $M_0=N_0=0$, or when the initial terms have the requisite integrability. With arbitrary finite initial values, centre the quadratic variation construction and use $MN-M_0{N}_0-[M,N]$, which starts at zero. Adding back $M_0{N}_0$ requires it to be integrable under the usual definition of a local martingale; the quadratic covariation itself is unaffected by centring.

For probability measures on $(\Omega ,\mathcal{F})$, absolute continuity of measures means preservation of null sets in one direction:Equivalently, by the Radon-Nikodym theorem, there is an $\mathcal{F}$-measurable Radon-Nikodym derivative $Z\ge 0$ with ${\mathbb{E}}_{\mathbb{P}}Z=1$ and $\tilde{\mathbb{P}}(A)={\mathbb{E}}_{\mathbb{P}}[Z{1}_A]$. The derivative may vanish, so absolute continuity of measures does not require equivalence of the two probability measures. In particular, the reverse null-set implication is not part of the definition.

The relevant fact is uniform convergence on compacts in probability under an absolutely continuous measure change. Write $Z=d\tilde{\mathbb{P}}/d\mathbb{P}$. For any event $E$ and $K>0$,The last term tends to zero as $K\to \infty$ because $Z$ is integrable. Consequently, $\mathbb{P}(E_n)\to 0$ implies $\tilde{\mathbb{P}}(E_n)\to 0$. Apply this to $E_n=\{{\sup }_{t\le T}|C_t^n-[M,N{]}_t|>\epsilon \}$ for each finite $T$ and $\epsilon >0$. The given dyadic sums therefore have the same uniform convergence on compacts in probability limit under the new probability measure.

This proves quadratic covariation under an absolutely continuous measure change:Taking $N=M$ proves the corresponding quadratic variation assertion directly; it has not been assumed. The ceiling in the printed sum includes one grid interval extending beyond $t$. This does not affect the limit: on $[0,T]$ the resulting extra product is bounded by the product of the two path oscillations on mesh $2^{-n}$, which tends to zero by uniform continuity on $[0,T+1]$.

The bracket under the new probability measure must be understood as the quadratic covariation of continuous semimartingales. Semimartingale stability under an absolutely continuous measure change ensures this class is preserved; the local martingale property need not be. For example, on a finite horizon, weighting Brownian motion by $\exp (\mu B_T-{\mu }^{2}T/2)$ makes $B_t-\mu t$ a Brownian motion by the Girsanov theorem, so $B$ has nonzero drift under the new measure even though its quadratic variation is still $t$. The PDF additionally assumes that $M,N$ remain local martingales under the new probability measure, so its bracket is also defined directly by the local martingale characterization.

For continuous semimartingales, the Stratonovich integral adds half the quadratic covariation to the Itô integral:One can see the factor directly from symmetric endpoint sums. On a partition of an interval, replacing $X$ at the left endpoint by the average of its two endpoint values adds $\frac{1}{2}\sum \Delta X\Delta Y$; its limit is $\frac{1}{2}[X,Y]$. Thus the correction depends only on the continuous local martingale parts of the semimartingales. If either integrator or integrand has finite variation, the quadratic covariation vanishes and these two integrals coincide. Here the printed notation $\partial Y$ denotes Stratonovich integral integration, equivalently $\circ dY$.

By the Itô formula,To compute the Stratonovich integral correction, apply the Itô formula also to $f^{\prime }$, which is twice continuously differentiable because $f$ is $C^3$. The continuous local martingale part of $f^{\prime }(X)$ is $\int f^{\prime \prime }(X_s)d{L}_s$, where $L$ is the continuous local martingale part of $X$. A finite-variation process has zero quadratic covariation with $X$, and the quadratic variation of a stochastic integral together with polarization identity givesAll these statements can be localized to compact ranges of $X$, so unbounded derivatives create no global integrability requirement. Substitute this identity into the Stratonovich integral to obtain the Stratonovich chain rule:This is the integrated meaning of the requested differential identity; there is no extra second-order term after the Stratonovich integral correction has been included.