Rates of decay and growth of solutions to linear stochastic differential equations with state-independent perturbations

The paper studies the almost sure asymptotic convergence to zero of solutions of perturbed linear stochastic differential equations, where the unperturbed equation has an equilibrium at zero, and all solutions of the unperturbed equation tend to zero, almost surely. The perturbation is present in the drift term, and both drift and diffusion coefficients are state‐dependent. We determine necessary and sufficient conditions for the almost sure convergence of solutions to the equilibrium of the unperturbed equation. In particular, a critical polynomial rate of decay of the perturbation is identified, such that solutions of equations in which the perturbation tends to zero more quickly that this rate are almost surely asymptotically stable, while solutions of equations with perturbations decaying more slowly that this critical rate are not asymptotically stable. As a result, the integrability or convergence to zero of the perturbation is not by itself sufficient to guarantee the asymptotic stability of solutions when the stochastic equation with the perturbing term is asymptotically stable. Rates of decay when the perturbation is subexponential are also studied, as well as necessary and sufficient conditions for exponential stability.