Ergodicity breaking in geometric Brownian motion

Abstract

Geometric Brownian motion (GBM) is a model for systems as varied as financial instruments and populations. The statistical properties of GBM are complicated by non-ergodicity, which can lead to ensemble averages exhibiting exponential growth while any individual trajectory collapses according to its time-average. A common tactic for bringing time averages closer to ensemble averages is diversification. In this letter we study the effects of diversification using the concept of ergodicity breaking.

5 pages, 3 figures