Singular Backward SDEs for Optimal Control with State Constraints

Abstract

We investigate a class of backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) with at most quadratic growth which explode at a possibly unbounded random horizon, defined through the first hitting of zero of an adapted Ito process. In contrast with the classical theory of singular BSDEs, the explosion is generated by the nonlinear dependence of the generator on the martingale integrand, rather than by a superlinear coercivity condition in the solution component. We construct a minimal singular solution and derive two-sided estimates on its explosion, together with weighted BMO estimates for the martingale integrand. We also obtain the uniqueness and exact explosion rates under additional structural assumptions. For Hamiltonian generators, we establish a verification theorem for an infinite-horizon stochastic optimal control problem with possible non-Markovian state constraints, showing that the BSDE feedback induces the unique optimal constrained law. We finally specialize the theory to exit times of uniformly elliptic Markov diffusions and recover the connection with large solutions of viscous Hamilton-Jacobi equations.