In a one-factor market whose filtration is the usual augmentation of the natural Brownian filtration, with nonzero spot volatility and local martingale deflator , the Brownian martingale representation theorem constructs a nonnegative replicating strategy for a bounded nonnegative contingent claim. The minimal initial cost among nonnegative self-financing portfolios is .
Write for the state probabilities under an equivalent martingale measure. Since cash is constant and the European put option pays only in the lowest state, the pricing equations are
Their unique solution is , , . Every physical state has positive probability, so equivalence requires all three values to be strictly positive. Thus
For each price in this open interval the pricing kernel takes values in the three equally likely states, proving absence of arbitrage.
The necessity, including the exclusion of endpoints, can also be checked directly. The three terminal payoff vectors of cash, the stock and the European put option form the invertible matrix
Each unit state payoff therefore has a replicating strategy, whose initial cost is the corresponding . A zero or negative supplies an arbitrage, so the endpoints are genuinely excluded.
Fix the maturity horizon. Since is a nonnegative local martingale and is bounded, : and . The bounded nonnegative payoff thus makes integrable. Set
The Brownian martingale representation theorem yields , using its locally square-integrable version for an integrable terminal random variable. The Itô formula for gives
Choose the replicating strategy
Its self-financing portfolio equation has exactly the displayed drift and diffusion, because . All coefficients are locally integrable after stopping; the holdings are predictable in the augmented natural Brownian filtration. This construction has and , so it is an admissible replicating strategy under the question's nonnegative-wealth convention.
For any other nonnegative self-financing portfolio replicating the same payoff, part (b) implies . The constructed strategy attains equality, since and in the augmented natural Brownian filtration. Hence
This is deflator-based claim replication; it does not require upgrading the local martingale deflator to a true martingale density.
With constant coefficients, is constant, so the stochastic exponential is a true martingale. Under its equivalent martingale measure , the stock follows the Black-Scholes model . The Gaussian exponential moment gives the value of the power option
The option delta is , so the replicating strategy holds
Half the wealth value is in the stock and half in the bank account, with continuous rebalancing. To check the self-financing portfolio property under the original measure, the Itô formula gives . Also and .
The payoff is unbounded, so the bounded-payoff restriction of part (c) is not invoked automatically; the Black-Scholes model has the necessary finite Gaussian moments, and the explicit strategy attains . The supermartingale bound from part (b) therefore proves its minimality. The cost is independent of the physical drift .