Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / iii / Paper 225 / 1 / b / Solution

The stated kernel is the Brownian bridge covariance kernel. Its eigenvalue equation isThe right-hand side vanishes at $s=0$ and $s=1$, and differentiating it twice givesThus the normalized eigenfunctions and eigenvalues areThe Karhunen–Loève expansion is consequentlywith convergence in $L^2(\Omega ;L^2[0,1])$, where $\mathbb{E}{Z}_k=0$ and $\mathbb{E}[Z_j{Z}_k]=1_{\{j=k\}}$. Covariance alone does not imply that the $Z_k$ are independent or normal; they are independent standard normal variables when $X$ is Gaussian.