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Conditioning a normal on the radius squared

Question

Take two independent standard normal variables XX and YY. Given the value of X2+Y2X^2+Y^2, what is the conditional expectation of XX? That is, find E[X∣X2+Y2]\mathbb{E}\left[X \mid X^2+Y^2\right].

Short answer

00. Replacing XX by −X-X leaves the joint law of (X,Y)(X,Y) and the value of X2+Y2X^2+Y^2 unchanged, so the conditional mean of XX must equal the conditional mean of −X-X. A quantity equal to its own negative is zero.

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