A Continuous Version of De Finetti's Theorem

Abstract

A continuous version of De Finetti's theorem is proved in which the role of the homogeneous product states is played by the independent increment stationary processes on the real line. The proof is based on a conditional, finite De Finetti's theorem (i.e., a result involving only a finite number of random variables and exchangeable conditional expectations rather than exchangeable probabilities). Our technique of proof improves and simplifies a result of Freedman and includes a generalization of the quantum De Finetti's theorem as well as some more recent variants of it. The last section of the paper is an attempt to answer a question of Diaconis and Freedman.