Semi-closed form prices of barrier options in the Hull-White model

Abstract: In this paper we derive semi-closed form prices of barrier (perhaps, time-dependent) options for the Hull-White model, ie., where the underlying follows a time-dependent OU process with a mean-reverting drift. Our approach is similar to that in (Carr and Itkin, 2020) where the method of generalized integral transform is applied to pricing barrier options in the time-dependent OU model, but extends it to an infinite domain (which is an unsolved problem yet). Alternatively, we use the method of heat potentials for solving the same problems. By semi-closed solution we mean that first, we need to solve numerically a linear Volterra equation of the first kind, and then the option price is represented as a one-dimensional integral. Our analysis shows that computationally our method is more efficient than the backward and even forward finite difference methods (if one uses them to solve those problems), while providing better accuracy and stability.