arXiv:2605. 26078v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Wasserstein policy gradient (WPG) is a policy optimization method for reinforcement learning (RL) that exploits the optimal-transport geometry of action distributions.
The review explores how control theory, optimal transport, probabilistic inference, non‑equilibrium thermodynamics, and machine learning are interconnected through the optimization of free‑energy‑like functionals under dynamical or statistical constraints. It presents a conceptual thread linking these five fields and illustrates the ideas with applications in reinforcement learning, variational inference, and generative modeling. The article is written for readers without prior familiarity, beginning with physics principles.
arXiv:2102. 09235v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Recent studies revealed the mathematical connection between deep neural networks (DNNs) and dynamic systems.
arXiv:2608. 07433v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Wasserstein policy gradient (WPG) updates state-conditional action laws by transport in the action space.
The paper develops a diffusion approximation for stochastic gradient descent (SGD) when the optimization target is a functional on the Wasserstein space ℝ2. By lifting the problem to a Hilbert space via Lions differentiability, the authors construct a Gaussian random-field approximation whose velocity field matches the mean and covariance of the original stochastic gradient. They prove that this Gaussian approximation achieves second‑order weak accuracy, providing a rigorous basis for replacing sample‑driven randomness with analytically tractable Gaussian fluctuations in stochastic optimization over probability measures.
arXiv:2506. 04480v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: This paper focuses on Geodesic Principal Component Analysis (GPCA) on a collection of probability distributions using the Otto-Wasserstein geometry.
arXiv:2606. 24157v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The space $\mathcal{P}_2(\mathbb{R}^d$) of probability measures with finite second moment carries a natural geometry: the quadratic Wasserstein distance W_2 makes it a complete metric space and, following Otto, a (formal) Riemannian manifold whose geodesics are the optimal-transport interpolations.
arXiv:2606. 27767v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Optimizing functionals over the space of probability measures is now ubiquitous in machine learning.
arXiv:2505. 06589v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Modern machine learning repeatedly manipulates probability measures: empirical datasets, generated samples, latent distributions, class-conditional laws, particle systems, weights of wide networks and attention patterns.
arXiv:2606. 17196v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This paper is concerned with learning principal variations of random probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^m$ under the Wasserstein geometry.
arXiv:2412. 20556v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We study distributionally robust optimization (DRO) for robust inference when the worst-case distribution is continuous, leading to significant computational challenges due to the infinite-dimensional nature of the optimization problem.
The paper investigates continuous‑time stochastic control problems with unknown drift and running reward functions, using an exploratory reinforcement learning framework that incorporates relaxed controls and entropy regularization. It develops policy‑iteration algorithms based on probabilistic representations of the optimal value function and its gradient, proving convergence and demonstrating performance through numerical examples. The study also extends to a special case with control‑dependent diffusion, requiring a Hessian representation.