Stopped process


In mathematics, a stopped process is a stochastic process that is forced to assume the same value after a prescribed time.

Definition

Let
Then the stopped process is defined for and by

Examples

Gambling

Consider a gambler playing roulette. Xt denotes the gambler's total holdings in the casino at time t ≥ 0, which may or may not be allowed to be negative, depending on whether or not the casino offers credit. Let Yt denote what the gambler's holdings would be if he/she could obtain unlimited credit.
is a stopping time for Y, and, since the gambler cannot continue to play after he/she has exhausted his/her resources, X is the stopped process Yτ.

Brownian motion

Let be a one-dimensional standard Brownian motion starting at zero.
Then the stopped Brownian motion will evolve as per usual up until the random time, and will thereafter be constant with value : i.e., for all.