Hitting time of Brownian motion is finite

brownian motionstopping-times

I have the following task: let $B$ be a standard Brownian motion and let $a<0$, $b>0$. We define the following stopping time

$T=\inf\{t\ge 0;\,B_t=a\,\vee\,B_t=a\}$

I would like to show that $P(T<\infty)=1$. It seems to be quite intuitive. Any help?

Best Answer

By continuity of paths $P(T=\infty)\leq P(a<B_t<b \, \forall t)\leq P(a<B_t<b)=P(\frac a {\sqrt t} <X<\frac b {\sqrt t})$ for any $t>0$ where $X$ has standard normal distribution. Clearly $P(\frac a {\sqrt t} <X<\frac b {\sqrt t}) \to 0$ as $t \to \infty$.

[I have used the fact that $B_t$ has same distribution as $\sqrt t X$].

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