Past exam of the stochastic differential equations course of the University of Oxford / 2025 / 2 / a

For $t>0$, $B_t$ has the normal distribution $N(0,t)$. Evaluate its Gaussian integral:At $t=0$ the defining random variable is one, consistent with the same formula. Thus

Let $Y_t=-\beta {\int }_0^t{B}_{u}d{B}_u-{\int }_0^t{h}_{u}du$. Its quadratic variation is $[Y{]}_t={\beta }^2{\int }_0^t{B}_u^{2}du$. The Itô formula for $Z=e^Y$ givesChooseThe chosen process is continuous and adapted, hence progressively measurable. Its time integral is finite on compact intervals because Brownian paths are continuous. The resulting $Z$ is the stochastic exponential of $-\beta {\int }_0^{\cdot }{B}_{u}d{B}_u$, and is a positive local martingale.

The Itô formula for $B_t^2$ yields ${\int }_0^t{B}_{u}d{B}_u=(B_t^2-t)/2$. Substituting into the expression for $Z_t$ gives the pathwise identityConsequentlyTaking expected values provesThe random variable on the preceding line is bounded by one for $\alpha \ge 0$, so its integrability is immediate.