[Math] Measure from on product $\sigma$-algebra to on component $\sigma$-algebras

measure-theory

This is inspired by Carl Offner's reply to one of my previous questions and my previous question about marginal and joint measures.

  1. Given a measure $\mu$ on product
    $\sigma$-algebra $\prod_{i \in I}
    \mathbb{S}_i$ of a collection of
    measurable spaces $(X_i,
    \mathbb{S}_i), i \in I$, does there
    exist a measure $\mu_i$ on each
    component $\sigma$-algebra
    $\mathbb{S}_i$, s.t. their product
    $\prod_{i \in I} \mu_i$ is the given
    measure $\mu$ on the product
    $\sigma$-algebra?
  2. If no, what are some necessary and/or
    sufficient conditions for the given
    measure $\mu$ to have such a
    decomposition?
  3. When they exist, how to construct
    the component measures $\mu_i$ from
    $\mu$?

    For example, is this a viable way
    by defining $$\mu_i(A_i):=
    \frac{\mu(A_i \times \prod_{j \in
    I, j\neq i} X_i)}{\prod_{j \in I,
    j\neq i} \mu_j(X_i)}, \forall A_i \in \mathbb{S}_i ?$$ If not,
    when will it become viable? ADDED: I asked this question, because obviously, the product and the division may not make sense in some cases. Also I actually made a mistake of circular definition, where I define $\mu_i$ in terms of $\mu_j, j\neq i$ which have to be defined in similar ways.

Thanks and regards!

Best Answer

The answer to (1) is certainly no; not every measure on a product space is a product measure, not even for a finite product. Consider for example the following: let $m$ be Lebesgue measure on $[0,1]$, let $F : [0,1] \to [0,1]^2$ be given by $F(x) = (x,x)$, and let $\mu = m \circ F^{-1}$ be the pushforward measure on the product $[0,1]^2$ (with its product $\sigma$-algebra of course). $\mu$ then is effectively 1-dimensional Lebesgue measure on the diagonal of $[0,1]$. Now $\mu$ cannot be a product measure. For suppose $\mu = \mu_1 \times \mu_2$. Let $0 < a < 1$; it's clear that we have $\mu((0,a)^2) = a > 0$ and $\mu((a,1)^2) = 1-a > 0$. Thus $\mu_i((0,a)) > 0$ and $\mu_i((a,1)) > 0$ for $i=1,2$. But $\mu((0,a) \times (a,1)) = \mu((a,1) \times (0,a)) = 0$, a contradiction.

This is best thought of in terms of probability theory: a probability measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$ gives the (joint) distribution of a random vector $(X_1, \dots, X_d)$. If $\pi_i : \mathbb{R}^d \to \mathbb{R}$, $i=1,\dots,d$ is the projection onto the $i$'th component, then $\mu_i = \mu \circ \pi_i^{-1}$ is the marginal distribution of $X_i$. But $\mu$ is a product measure iff $\{X_1, \dots, X_d\}$ are independent. In our example, $\mu$ is the joint distribution of $(U,U)$, where $U \sim U(0,1)$; obviously $U$ is not independent of itself.