• Weak convergence of the past and future of Brownian motion given the present

• # Fulltext

https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/pmsc/127/01/0165-0174

• # Keywords

Brownian motion; weak convergence; last entrance time; first exit time; coupling; time reversal.

• # Abstract

In this paper, we show that for $t > 0$, the joint distribution of the past $\{W_{t−s} : 0 \leq s \leq t\}$ and the future $\{W_{t+s} : s \geq 0\}$ of a $d$-dimensional standard Brownian motion $(W_s)$, conditioned on $\{W_t\in U\}$, where $U$ is a bounded open set in $\mathbb{R}^d$, converges weakly in $C[0,\infty)\times C[0, \infty)$ as $t\rightarrow\infty$. The limiting distribution is that of a pair of coupled processes $Y + B^1$, $Y + B^2$ where $Y$, $B^1$, $B^2$ are independent, $Y$ is uniformly distributed on $U$ and $B^1$, $B^2$ are standard $d$-dimensional Brownian motions. Let $\sigma_t$, $d_t$ be respectively, the last entrance time before time $t$ into the set $U$ and the first exit time after $t$ from $U$. When the boundary of $U$ is regular, we use the continuous mapping theorem to show that the limiting distribution as $t\rightarrow\infty$ of the four dimensional vector with components $(W_{\sigma_t}, t − \sigma_t, W_{d_t}, d_t − t)$, conditioned on $\{W_t\in U\}$, is the same as that of the four dimensional vector whose components are the place and time of first exit from $U$ of the processes $Y + B^1$ and $Y + B^2$ respectively.

• # Author Affiliations

1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
2. Stat-Math Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore Centre, 8th Mile, Mysore Road, R.V. College Post, Bangalore 560 059, India

• # Proceedings – Mathematical Sciences

Current Issue
Volume 129 | Issue 5
November 2019

• # Editorial Note on Continuous Article Publication

Posted on July 25, 2019