[Math] expectation of brownian motion squared with regard to stopping time

brownian motionprobability

let $T_1$ be the first occurrence of a Poisson process at rate $\lambda$, and $X(t) = \sigma B(t) + \mu t$ be another independent Brownian motion with drift, calculate $E(X(T_1))$ and $\operatorname{Var}(X(T_1))$.

I know $E(T_1) = 1/\lambda$, as well as the following

$E(X(t))=\mu t$
$\operatorname{Var}(X(t)) = \sigma^2 t$

but not sure what's the result when $t$ becomes a random variable itself.

Best Answer

Hint: You could apply Wald's identities:

Let $(B_t,\mathcal{F}_t)_t$ be a BM$^1$ and $\tau$ an $\mathcal{F}_t$ stopping time such that $\mathbb{E}\tau<\infty$. Then $B_\tau \in L^2$ and $$\mathbb{E}B_\tau = 0 \qquad \qquad \mathbb{E}B_{\tau}^2 = \mathbb{E}\tau$$

In this case you can define $\mathcal{F}_t$ as $\mathcal{F}_t := \sigma\{(B_s, s \leq t),T_1\}$ (which is an admissible filtration since $T_1$ is independent of the BM) and use $\mathbb{E}T_1 = \frac{1}{\lambda}$.