Integral Equations and the First Passage Time of Brownian Motions

Abstract

The first passage time problem for Brownian motions hitting a barrier has been extensively studied in the literature. In particular, many incarnations of integral equations which link the density of the hitting time to the equation for the barrier itself have appeared. Most interestingly, Peskir(2002b) demonstrates that a master integral equation can be used to generate a countable number of new equations via differentiation or integration by parts. In this article, we generalize Peskir's results and provide a more powerful unifying framework for generating integral equations through a new class of martingales. We obtain a continuum of Volterra type integral equations of the first kind and prove uniqueness for a subclass. Furthermore, through the integral equations, we demonstrate how certain functional transforms of the boundary affect the density function. Finally, we demonstrate a fundamental connection between the Volterra integral equations and a class of Fredholm integral equations.