(a) What does it mean to say that (Mn,Fn)n⩾0 is a martingale?
(b) Let Y1,Y2,… be independent random variables on (Ω,F,P) with Yi>0P-a.s. and E[Yi]=1,i⩾1. Further, let
M0=1 and Mn=i=1∏nYi,n⩾1
Show that (Mn)n⩾0 is a martingale with respect to the filtration Fn=σ(Y1,…,Yn).
(c) Let X=(Xn)n⩾0 be an adapted process with respect to a filtration (Fn)n⩾0 such that E[∣Xn∣]<∞ for every n. Show that X admits a unique decomposition
Xn=Mn+An,n⩾0,
where M=(Mn)n⩾0 is a martingale and A=(An)n⩾0 is a previsible process with A0=0, which can recursively be constructed from X as follows,
A0:=0,An+1−An:=E[Xn+1−Xn∣Fn]
(d) Let (Xn)n⩾0 be a super-martingale. Show that the following are equivalent:
(i) (Xn)n⩾0 is a martingale.
(ii) E[Xn]=E[X0] for all n∈N.