Finite lifetime threshold for a power diffusion ($\mathbb{P}(T<\infty )=1_{\{\alpha <1\}}(0<\alpha \le 1)$)

For the positive-domain power diffusion with $0<\alpha \le 1$, assuming the lifetime is the limit of the hitting times of $1/n$, it is finite almost surely exactly when $\alpha <1$. For $\alpha <1$, the Itô formula givesThe negative drift bounds this positive process above by $X_0^{1-\alpha }+(1-\alpha )B$, whose first hit of zero is finite by recurrence of one-dimensional Brownian motion. The lifetime must precede that hit. At $\alpha =1$, $X_t=X_0{e}^{B_t-t/2}$ is positive and finite on every compact time interval, so the lifetime is infinite. Approaching zero only as $t\to \infty$ is not a finite boundary lifetime.