English

Strong supermartingales and limits of nonnegative martingales

Probability 2016-02-23 v4

Abstract

Given a sequence (Mn)n=1(M^n)^{\infty}_{n=1} of nonnegative martingales starting at M0n=1M^n_0=1, we find a sequence of convex combinations (M~n)n=1(\widetilde{M}^n)^{\infty}_{n=1} and a limiting process XX such that (M~τn)n=1(\widetilde{M}^n_{\tau})^{\infty}_{n=1} converges in probability to XτX_{\tau}, for all finite stopping times τ\tau. The limiting process XX then is an optional strong supermartingale. A counterexample reveals that the convergence in probability cannot be replaced by almost sure convergence in this statement. We also give similar convergence results for sequences of optional strong supermartingales (Xn)n=1(X^n)^{\infty}_{n=1}, their left limits (Xn)n=1(X^n_-)^{\infty}_{n=1} and their stochastic integrals (φdXn)n=1(\int\varphi \,dX^n)^{\infty}_{n=1} and explain the relation to the notion of the Fatou limit.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.2024,
  title  = {Strong supermartingales and limits of nonnegative martingales},
  author = {Christoph Czichowsky and Walter Schachermayer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.2024},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-AOP970 in the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)