Let be the Brownian motion process starting at the origin, its primitive and Ut
= (Xt+x + ty, Bt
+ y), , the associated bidimensional process starting from a point . In this paper we present an elementary procedure for re-deriving the formula of Lefebvre (1989) giving the Laplace–Fourier transform of the distribution of the couple (σ α, Uσa
), as well as Lachal's (1991) formulae giving the explicit Laplace–Fourier transform of the law of the couple (σ ab, Uσab
), where σ α
and σ ab
denote respectively the first hitting time of from the right and the first hitting time of the double-sided barrier by the process . This method, which unifies and considerably simplifies the proofs of these results, is in fact a ‘vectorial' extension of the classical technique of Darling and Siegert (1953). It rests on an essential observation (Lachal (1992)) of the Markovian character of the bidimensional process .
Using the same procedure, we subsequently determine the Laplace–Fourier transform of the conjoint law of the quadruplet (σ α, Uσa, σb, Uσb
).
Asymptotic estimates for the first hitting time of fluctuating additive functionals of Brownian motion