A positive resolution of the gap-entropy conjecture
Read the original on arXiv Statistics ML →The Flow has not summarised this story yet — read it at arXiv Statistics ML.
The Flow has not summarised this story yet — read it at arXiv Statistics ML.
We prove the gap-entropy conjecture for fixed-confidence best-arm identification with independent unit-variance Gaussian arms, means in $[0,1]$, and a unique optimal arm. For each suboptimal arm $i$,...
arXiv:2609.13703v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: In the best-arm identification problem, we are given $n$ stochastic arms with unknown means and wish to identify the arm with the largest mean with p...
The paper investigates Bayesian fixed‑confidence best‑arm identification where a learner may abstain from a final recommendation. It introduces the Screen‑and‑Confirm (S&C) algorithm, analyzes its expected stopping time, and derives lower bounds for any algorithm under error probability δ and abstention budget α constraints. For Gaussian priors, the authors provide matching upper and lower bounds, characterize exact constants for practical regimes, and show that S&C achieves optimal α–dependent rates, improving on previous results when abstention is disallowed.
arXiv:2603. 10346v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We study the fixed-budget best-arm identification (BAI) problem in non-stationary linear bandits.
arXiv:2610. 10488v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: We study the best arm identification problem in a stochastic environment with a novel form of adversarial perturbations, which we coin Shifting Means.
arXiv:2607. 16966v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Estimating entropy from samples is fundamental in information theory and property testing.