First Passage Densities and Boundary Crossing Probabilities for Diffusion Processes

We consider the boundary crossing problem for time-homogeneous diffusions and general curvilinear boundaries. Bounds are derived for the approximation error of the one-sided (upper) boundary crossing probability when replacing the original boundary by a different one. In doing so we establish the existence of the first-passage time density and provide an upper bound for this function. In the case of processes with diffusion interval equal to ℝ this is extended to a lower bound, as well as bounds for the first crossing time of a lower boundary. An extension to some time-inhomogeneous diffusions is given. These results are illustrated by numerical examples.