Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / iii / Paper 202 / 6 / a

Fix $t>0$ and define $w(s,y)=u(t-s,|y|)$ for $0\le s\le t$. The assumed smooth extension and the Neumann boundary condition at zero make $w$ a $C^{1,2}$ function. The heat equation givesThe Itô formula therefore makes $w(s,B_s)$ a local martingale. Stop first when $|B|$ leaves a large compact interval. The exponential growth bound and the finite exponential moments of the maximum of Brownian motion on $[0,t]$ give uniform integrability, so localization and the dominated convergence theorem yieldThis is the Feynman-Kac formula for the Neumann heat problem.