7

Let $X$ and $Y$ be two identically distributed random vectors in $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ defined on the same underlying probability space $(\Omega,\mathcal{A},P)$. Suppose that $P$ is non-atomic.

Does there exist a measurable function $f:\Omega\to \Omega$ that is measure-preserving such that $X(\omega) = Y(f(\omega))$ a.s.?


Note this is similar to a number of questions that have been asked before (links posted below). However, none of the solutions to these questions have been super clear to me.

The general conclusion seems to be "yes," at least if $(\Omega,\mathcal{A},P)$ is a standard probability space. But I am looking for a bit of explanation, and then some solid references that will help me see the result clearly for myself.

Let's settle the issue once and for all! Anyone up to the challenge?

Some previous posts: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5.

möbius
  • 2,573
  • 1
    Do you want $f$ to be measure-preserving too? – Michael Greinecker Jun 13 '23 at 00:40
  • 1
    No, using Vitali sets, you can get $X:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $Y:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ uniformly distributed over $[0,1]$ and $X(\Omega) \cap Y(\Omega) = \phi$. So no function $f$ exists (measurable or not) since the set of values $X$ can take has no overlap with the set of values $Y$ can take. See https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7148 – Michael Jun 13 '23 at 05:52
  • @MichaelGreinecker Yes, after some reflection, I think I want $f$ to be measure-preserving as well. I have edited the question to include this. Thanks! – möbius Jun 13 '23 at 16:34
  • 1
    @Michael that counterexample is pretty devastating. I guess that concludes the debate... If you want to post your comment as an answer, I will accept it. – möbius Jun 14 '23 at 14:06
  • I will try to write up an answer later. I notice that your discussion of the question mentions "standard probability spaces" and, depending on what you mean by that, the question may still be open. For example, right now I cannot see a way to construct the Vitali set example on $([0,1], \mathcal{B}([0,1]), \mu)$ (where $\mu$ is the standard Borel measure on $[0,1]$). – Michael Jun 14 '23 at 14:54

1 Answers1

2

This answer gives more detail on my comments. In the following, I assume the axiom of choice whenever needed.

Claim 1 (counter-intuitive): There exists a probability space $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P)$ and two i.i.d. random variables $X:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $Y:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$, both uniformly distributed on $[0,1]$, such that $X$ and $Y$ have disjoint images, that is $X(\Omega) \cap Y(\Omega) = \phi$.

Proof: Consider Theorem 3 from the following paper: [D. Rizzolo, "Strange Uniform Random Variables," arxiv:1301.7148v1, 2013] https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7148

Theorem 3 there gives two probability spaces $(\Omega_1, \mathcal{F}_1, P_1)$ and $(\Omega_2, \mathcal{F}_2, P_2)$ with corresponding uniformly distributed random variables $Z_1:\Omega_1\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $Z_2:\Omega_2\rightarrow[0,1]$ (defined on their respective spaces) such that $Z_1(\Omega)\cap Z_2(\Omega)= \phi$. Define the product space $\Omega = \Omega_1\times \Omega_2$, $\mathcal{F} = \mathcal{F}_1\otimes\mathcal{F}_2$, $P=P_1\otimes P_2$ and define $X:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $Y:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ by \begin{align} X(\omega_1, \omega_2) &= Z_1(\omega_1) \quad \forall (\omega_1,\omega_2) \in \Omega\\ Y(\omega_1, \omega_2) &= Z_2(\omega_2) \quad \forall (\omega_1, \omega_2) \in \Omega \end{align} $\Box$

For the $X, Y$ random variables of Claim 1, it is impossible to have any function $f:\Omega\rightarrow\Omega$ (measurable or not) such that $X(\omega) = Y(f(\omega))$, because $X$ and $Y$ have disjoint images.


Claim 2: Suppose $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P)$ is a probability space and $X:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $Y:\Omega\rightarrow[0,1]$ are random variables. Suppose both $X$ and $Y$ are uniformly distributed over $[0,1]$ and that both $X(\Omega)$ and $Y(\Omega)$ are Borel measurable subsets of $[0,1]$. Define $C=X(\Omega) \cap Y(\Omega)$. Then $C$ is Borel measurable, $P[X \in C] = 1$, and there is a (possibly nonmeasurable) function $f:\Omega\rightarrow\Omega$ such that $X(\omega) = Y(f(\omega))$ for all $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$.

Proof: Since $X(\Omega)$ and $Y(\Omega)$ are Borel sets, the set $C$ is also Borel. Since $P[X \notin X(\Omega)] = 0$ and $P[Y\notin Y(\Omega)]=0$ we have \begin{align} P[X \notin C] &= P[\{X \notin X(\Omega)\}\cup \{X \notin Y(\Omega)\}]\\ &\overset{(a)}{\leq} P[X \notin X(\Omega)] + P[X \notin Y(\Omega)] \\ &\overset{(b)}{=}P[X \notin X(\Omega)] + P[Y \notin Y(\Omega)]\\ &=0 \end{align} where (a) holds by the union bound; (b) holds because $Y$ has the same distribution as $X$. It follows that $P[X \in C] = 1$.

To finish the proof, since $P[X \in C] = 1$ we know $X^{-1}(C)$ is nonempty. Fix $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$ and define $x=X(\omega)$. Then $x \in X(\Omega)\cap Y(\Omega)$. Since $x \in Y(\Omega)$, there is a $\nu \in \Omega$ such that $Y(\nu)=x$. Denote this $\nu$ by $\nu_{\omega}$, since it corresponds to our initial $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$. So we have $x=X(\omega) = Y(\nu_{\omega})$. This holds for any arbitrarily chosen $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$. So by the axiom of choice, for each $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$ we have $\nu_{\omega} \in \Omega$ such that $X(\omega)=Y(\nu_{\omega})$. Define $f:\Omega\rightarrow\Omega$ by $f(\omega)=\nu_{\omega}$ for all $\omega \in X^{-1}(C)$ (and define $f(\omega)$ arbitrarily for $\omega \notin X^{-1}(C)$). $\Box$


Background: I found the Rizzolo paper last year when I had independently developed a related result on images of random variables (called "Claim 3" below). When I searched for similar prior work I found the Rizzolo paper and saw that his proof of his Prop 1 was essentially the same as my own proof! Of course, his proof was developed years earlier. The following Claim 3 should be viewed as a basic generalization of Claim 1 (and Claim 1 follows directly from Rizzolo).

Setup to Claim 3: Fix $F:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ as a valid cumulative distribution function (CDF), meaning it satisfies the basic properties of a CDF (nondecreasing, right-continuous, $\lim_{x \rightarrow\infty} F(x)=1$, $\lim_{x\rightarrow-\infty}F(x) = -1$). Define $\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R})$ as the Borel sigma algebra on $\mathbb{R}$. Define $\mu_F:\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R})\rightarrow[0,1]$ as the measure induced by CDF $F$. Specifically, $$\mu_F(A)=P[X\in A] \quad \forall A \in \mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R})$$ whenever $X$ is a random variable (on some probability space) with CDF $F$. It is well known that any random variable with CDF $F$ produces the same measure, and so $\mu_F$ is well defined.

Definition: Given a CDF $F$, we say that a set $M\subseteq \mathbb{R}$ is an image of a random variable with CDF $F$ if there is a probability space $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P)$ and a random variable $X:\Omega\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ with CDF $F$ such that $X(\Omega) = M$. Note that the set $M$ need not be Borel measurable.

Claim 3: Fix $F$ as a CDF. A set $M\subseteq \mathbb{R}$ is an image of a random variable with CDF $F$ if and only if $\mu_F(A)=0$ for all Borel measurable subsets $A \subseteq M^c$ (where $M^c = \mathbb{R}\setminus M$ is the complement of set $M$).

Proof: The forward direction is obvious: If $M$ is an image of some random variable $X$ with CDF $F$, so that $M=X(\Omega)$, then for any Borel measurable set $A \subseteq M^c$ we have $\{\omega \in \Omega : X(\omega) \in A\}=\phi$ so $P[X \in A]=0$. But since $X$ has CDF $F$ we also have $\mu_F(A)=P[X\in A]$. So $\mu_F(A)=0$.

For the reverse direction, suppose $F$ is a CDF and $M\subseteq\mathbb{R}$ is such that $\mu_F(A)=0$ whenever $A$ is a Borel measurable subset of $M^c$. Define $\Omega = M$ and $\mathcal{F}=\{M \cap A : A \in \mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R})\}$. It is not difficult to show $\mathcal{F}$ is indeed a sigma algebra on $M$. Now construct $P:\mathcal{F}\rightarrow[0,1]$ such that for each $D \in \mathcal{F}$, we can select any $A \in \mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R})$ for which $D=M \cap A$ and define $P[D]=\mu_F(A)$. The proof that this can be done consistently, and results in a valid measure, uses the axiom of choice and is almost identical to the proof of Prop. 1 in the Rizzolo paper. $\Box$

Claim 3 generalizes Claim 1 as follows: In the case when $F$ is the CDF of a random variable that is uniformly distributed over $[0,1]$, Claim 3 implies that if $M\subseteq[0,1]$ is a set such that $[0,1]\setminus M$ contains no Borel subset of positive measure, then $M$ is the image of some random variable that is uniformly distributed on $[0,1]$. Using Vitali set concepts, we can construct two disjoint sets $M_1\subseteq[0,1]$ and $M_2\subseteq[0,1]$ such that neither $[0,1]\setminus M_1$ nor $[0,1]\setminus M_2$ contains a Borel subset of positive measure. So Claim 3 implies existence of probability spaces $(\Omega_1, \mathcal{F}_1, P_1)$ and $(\Omega_2, \mathcal{F}_2, P_2)$ and uniformly distributed random variables $X_1:\Omega_1\rightarrow[0,1]$ and $X_2:\Omega_2\rightarrow[0,1]$ such that $X_1(\Omega) = M_1$, $X_2(\Omega)=M_2$. Since $M_1$ and $M_2$ are disjoint, $X_1$ and $X_2$ have disjoint images. Using the product space we obtain the result of Claim 1. $\Box$

Michael
  • 26,378