Exponential stability of equidistant Euler–Maruyama approximations of stochastic differential delay equations

Our aim is to study under what conditions the exact and numerical solution (based on equidistant nonrandom partitions of integration time-intervals) to a stochastic differential delay equation (SDDE) share the property of mean-square exponential stability. Our approach is trying to avoid the use of Lyapunov functions or functionals. We show that under a global Lipschitz assumption an SDDE is exponentially stable in mean square if and only if for some sufficiently small stepsize the Euler–Maruyama (EM) method is exponentially stable in mean square. We then replace the global Lipschitz condition with a finite-time convergence condition and establish the same “if and only if” result. The important feature of this result is that it transfers the asymptotic problem into a finite-time convergence problem. Replacing the exact and EM numerical solution with stochastic processes, we also discuss whether a family of stochastic processes share the stability property. This new approach allows us to discuss (i) whether a family of SDDEs share the stability property, and (ii) whether an SDDE with variable time lag shares stability property with the modified EMmethod. As another application of this general approach we consider a linear SDDE with variable time lag and establish an “if and only if” result. It should also be mentioned that the questions addressed, results proved, as well as style of analysis borrow heavily from [14] but the computations involved to cope with time delay are nontrivial. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.