Variance and Covariance of Integrated Brownian Motion
Summary
The document works through the time integral of Brownian motion over a unit interval, asking how to justify moving expectation inside a double integral and how to calculate its covariance with the Brownian endpoint. One answer applies Fubini's theorem after bounding the absolute expectation of the integrand, distinguishing this interchange from Ito isometry. It uses the Brownian covariance function to obtain the integral's variance.
A second method rewrites the time integral as an Ito integral with a deterministic kernel, then applies Ito isometry to find its variance. For the endpoint covariance, the answers use Riemann-sum covariance properties or the generalized Ito isometry, giving one half. The material is a worked probability example rather than a trading application; its main lesson is choosing a theorem that matches the type of integral and checking the conditions needed for interchanging expectation and integration.
Key ideas
- Fubini's theorem justifies exchanging expectation and a time integral when suitable integrability conditions hold.
- Ito isometry applies to stochastic integrals with respect to Brownian motion.
- Integration by parts rewrites the time integral of Brownian motion as an Ito integral with a deterministic kernel.
- The variance of the integrated process is one third, and its covariance with the endpoint is one half.
- Riemann sums provide another route to the endpoint covariance.
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Full text
# Covariance between integral of brownian motion and brownian motion
# Covariance between integral of brownian motion and brownian motion
Let
$$ I = \int_0^1W_tdt, $$
where $W_t$ is a Brownian motion. From Integral of Brownian motion w.r.t. time we have that
$$ \mathbb{E}[I]=0, $$ by Fubini's theorem. And that $$ \mathbb{V}\text{ar}[I] = \mathbb{E}[I^2] = \mathbb{E}\left[\int_0^1\int_0^1W_sW_tdsdt\right] = \int_0^1\int_0^1\mathbb{E}[W_sW_t]dsdt = \frac{1}{3}. $$ Here I do not understand how we are able to bring the expectation into the integral, Ito isometry says that $$ \mathbb{E}\left[\left(\int_0^tX_sdW_s\right)^2\right] = \int_0^t\mathbb{E}[X_s^2]ds $$ so I am unsure how it is possible to use this here?
Furthermore, I am required to find $$ \mathbb{C}\text{ov}[I, W_1], $$
I know that $$ \mathbb{C}\text{ov}[I, W_1] = \mathbb{E}[IW_1], $$ since $\mathbb{E}[I] = \mathbb{E}[W_1] = 0$, my best guess here is then that $$ \mathbb{E}[IW_1] = \min\left(\frac{1}{3},1\right) = \frac{1}{3}, $$ however, this is probably wrong.
Thank you in advance!
## Answer by ir7 (score 2, accepted)
https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/63920
For the first question, equality $$\mathbb{E}\left[\int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]} W_sW_tdsdt\right] = \int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]}\mathbb{E}[W_sW_t]dsdt \left(= \int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]}\min(s,t)dsdt\right) $$
is due to commuting expectation and integral (not to Ito isometry), which in turn is allowed by Fubini's theorem condition being met:
$$ \left(\int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]}\mathbb{E}\left[|W_sW_t| \right] ds dt \right)^2\leq $$ $$\int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]}\mathbb{E}\left[|W_sW_t| \right]^2 ds dt \leq \int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]} \mathbb{E}\left[W_s^2 \right] \mathbb{E}\left[W_t^2 \right] dsdt $$ $$= \int_{[0,1]\times[0,1]}st dsdt = \frac{1}{4} <\infty $$
(with first and second inequalities being applications of Jensen and Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities, respectively).
For the second question, one way is to use the definition of the time integral (Riemann pathwise) and use covariance properties:
$$ {\rm cov} \left(\int_0^1 W_tdt, W_1 \right) = {\rm cov} \left(\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} W_{\frac{k}{n}}, W_1\right) $$
$$= \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} {\rm cov} \left( W_{\frac{k}{n}}, W_1\right) = \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n} \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \frac{k}{n} $$ $$= \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \frac{(n-1)n}{2n^2} = \frac{1}{2}$$
## Answer by R. Rayl (score 2)
https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/63922
There are two questions that you are asking:
- How to prove $\text{Var}[I] = \frac{1}{3}$? and
- What is $\text{Cov}[I, W_1]$?
For Question 1, you absolutely can use Ito isometry. First, note that we can use integration by parts to obtain the formula: \begin{align} \int_0^1 W_t dt &= W_1 - \int_0^1tdW_t \\ &= \int_0^1(1-t)dW_t \end{align} So we can write $I=\int_0^1(1-t)dW_t$ (switching from Riemann integral to an Ito integral like this is often a useful trick). Now, \begin{align} \text{Var}[I] = \text{E}[I^2] &= \text{E}\bigg[\bigg(\int_0^1(1-t)dW_t\bigg)^2\bigg] \\ &= \int_0^1(1-t)^2dt \\ &= \frac{1}{3} \end{align} where we use Ito isometry (exactly as you stated) to go from the first to the second line.
For Question 2, we use Ito isometry again. But this time the slightly more general form (see the very last equation). So, \begin{align} \text{Cov}[W_1, I] = \text{E}[W_1, I] &= \text{E}\bigg[W_1 \int_0^1tdW_t\bigg] \\ &= \text{E}\bigg[\int_0^1dW_t \int_0^1tdW_t\bigg] \\ &= \int_0^1tdt \\ &= \frac{1}{2} \end{align} where we use the general Ito isometry to go from line 2 to line 3.Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.