Conditional Monotone Convergence Theorem
Theorem
Let $\struct {\Omega, \Sigma, \Pr}$ be a probability space.
Let $X$ be an non-negative integrable random variable.
Let $\sequence {X_n}_{n \in \N}$ be an sequence of non-negative integrable random variables converging almost surely to $X$, such that:
- $X_n \le X_{n + 1}$ almost everywhere for each $n \in \N$.
Let $\GG \subseteq \Sigma$ be a sub-$\sigma$-algebra.
For each $n \in \N$, let $\expect {X_n \mid \GG}$ be a version of the conditional expectation of $X_n$ conditioned on $\GG$.
Let $\expect {X \mid \GG}$ be a version of the conditional expectation of $X$ conditioned on $\GG$.
Then:
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \expect {X_n \mid \GG} = \expect {X \mid \GG}$ almost everywhere.
Proof
Note that for almost all $\omega \in \Omega$, $\sequence {\map {X_n} \omega}_{n \mathop \in \N}$ is an increasing real sequence with $\map {X_n} \omega \to \map X \omega$.
From Monotone Convergence Theorem (Real Analysis), we then have that:
- $\map {X_n} \omega \le \map X \omega$
for almost all $\omega \in \Omega$.
From Conditional Expectation is Monotone, we then have:
- $\expect {X_n \mid \GG} \le \expect {X \mid \GG}$
Also:
- $X_n \le X_{n + 1}$ almost everywhere
by hypothesis, so again applying Conditional Expectation is Monotone we have:
- $\expect {X_n \mid \GG} \le \expect {X_{n + 1} \mid \GG}$
So for each $\omega \in \Omega$, $\sequence {\map {\paren {\expect {X_n \mid \GG} } } \omega}_{n \mathop \in \N}$ is an increasing real sequence bounded above by $\map {\paren {\expect {X \mid \GG} } } \omega$.
So by Monotone Convergence Theorem (Real Analysis):
- $\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \map {\paren {\expect {X_n \mid \GG} } } \omega$ exists for all $\omega \in \Omega$.
So define:
- $\ds Y = \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \expect {X_n \mid \GG}$
Then from Pointwise Limit of Measurable Functions is Measurable, $Y$ is a real-valued random variable.
We want to show that $Y$ is a version of the conditional expectation of $X$ conditioned on $\GG$.
We just need to check that:
- $\ds \int_A Y \rd \Pr = \int_A X \rd \Pr$
for each $A \in \GG$.
We have:
\(\ds \int_A Y \rd \Pr\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \int_A \paren {\lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \expect {X_n \mid \GG} } \rd \Pr\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \int_A \expect {X_n \mid \GG} \rd \Pr\) | Monotone Convergence Theorem (Measure Theory) | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \int_A X_n \rd \Pr\) | Definition of Conditional Expectation on Sigma-Algebra | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds \int_A X \rd \Pr\) | Monotone Convergence Theorem (Measure Theory) |
and hence $Y$ is a version of the conditional expectation of $X$ conditioned on $\GG$ and hence we have:
- $\ds Y = \lim_{n \mathop \to \infty} \expect {X_n \mid \GG} = \expect {X \mid \GG}$ almost everywhere.
$\blacksquare$
Sources
- 1991: David Williams: Probability with Martingales ... (previous) ... (next): $9.7$: Properties of conditional expectation: a list