arXiv AI

Generalised Bellman recurrence and three dualities in sequential decision-making

arXiv:2607. 18077v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: What gives the Bellman equation its form?

arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 1

End-to-End Efficient RL for Linear Bellman Complete MDPs with Deterministic Transitions

arXiv:2603. 23461v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We study reinforcement learning (RL) with linear function approximation in Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) satisfying \emph{linear Bellman completeness} -- a fundamental setting where the Bellman backup of any linear value function remains linear.

By Zakaria Mhammedi, Alexander Rakhlin, Nneka Okolo
arXiv AI
Jul 21

A Causal Markov Condition for Value

arXiv:2607. 16717v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This paper proposes a causal independence principle for value -- the value Causal Markov Condition (v-CMC) -- and develops the conceptual and mathematical foundations of a "causal value theory" linking causality and utility.

By Olav Benjamin Vassend
arXiv AI
Jun 2

Emergence of Exploration in Policy Gradient Reinforcement Learning via Retrying

arXiv:2606. 00151v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: In reinforcement learning (RL), agents benefit from exploration only because they repeatedly encounter similar states: trying different actions can improve performance or reduce uncertainty; without such retries, a greedy policy is optimal.

By Soichiro Nishimori, Paavo Parmas, Sotetsu Koyamada, Tadashi Kozuno, Toshinori Kitamura, Shin Ishii, Yutaka Matsuo
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 28

Universal Decision Learners

arXiv:2605. 30694v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Many theories of decision making -- planning, reinforcement learning, causal intervention, online learning, and game-theoretic equilibrium -- turn local information into globally coherent behavior.

By Sridhar Mahadevan
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 21

Distributional Soft Bellman Operator under the Cram\'er Geometry

arXiv:2607. 17897v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Distributional soft policy iteration (DSPI) provides an important framework for combining distributional reinforcement learning (DRL) with maximum-entropy control, in which the policy evaluation step is governed by a distributional soft Bellman operator acting on entropy-regularised returns.

By Keru Wang, Yixin Deng, Yao Lyu, Stephen Redmond, Shengbo Eben Li
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 12

Generalized Linear Markov Decision Process

arXiv:2506. 00818v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Offline reinforcement learning for longitudinal studies often faces two linked challenges: rewards may be binary or bounded, and reward observations may be available only for a subset of trajectories or time points even when the corresponding state-action-next-state histories are available.

By Sinian Zhang, Kaicheng Zhang, Ziping Xu, Zongqi Xia, Jue Hou, Tianxi Cai, Doudou Zhou