A mass transport approach to the optimization of adapted couplings of real valued random variables

Abstract: In this work, we investigate an optimization problem over adapted couplings between pairs of real valued random variables, possibly describing random times. We relate those couplings to a specific class of causal transport plans between probabilities on the set of real numbers endowed with a filtration, for which their provide a specific representation, which is motivated by a precise characterization of the corresponding deterministic transport plans. From this, under mild hypothesis, the existence of a solution to the problem investigated here is obtained. Furthermore, several examples are provided, within this explicit framework.