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Exercise 2.31 (Independence of $\sigma$-algebras)

If (Xi)i∈A are a collection of random variables, show that (Xi)i∈A are jointly independent random variables if and only if (σ(Xi))i∈A are jointly independent σ-algebras.

Answers

  • Suppose that (Xi)i∈A are independent. We use the equivalent definition of the independence of σ-algebras, i.e., we verify whether

    P (⋂ i∈BEi) = ∏ i∈BP(Ei)

    whenever B is a finite subset of A and Ei ∈Fi for i ∈ B. Hence, pick an arbitrary collection (Ei)i∈B satisfying these conditions. By definition, there is a collection (Si)i∈B of measurable sets in the range of X such that X−1(Si) = Ei for each i. We then have

    P (⋂ i∈BEi) = P (∧ i∈BXi ∈ Si) = ∏ i∈BP (Xi ∈ Si) = ∏ i∈BP(Ei).

  • Suppose that σ(Xi)i∈A are independent, i.e., whenever Y i is a random variable measurable with respect to σ(Xi) for i ∈ A, the tuple (Y i)i∈A is jointly independent. Since (Xi)i∈A is one of such tuples, the assertion holds trivially.
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2021-09-25 00:00
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