arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 11

Near-Optimal Reinforcement Learning with Multi-Step Transition Lookahead

The paper investigates reinforcement learning with multi‑step transition look‑ahead, where an agent can foresee the states resulting from any sequence of λ actions before choosing its next move. It proves that exact planning remains NP‑hard for every fixed rational discount factor γ in (0,1), and introduces a randomized polynomial‑time approximation scheme that works for any fixed look‑ahead depth. Extending this to unknown transitions and stochastic rewards, the authors develop an algorithm with cumulative regret matching classical tabular discounted RL up to logarithmic factors, showing that efficient near‑optimal planning and learning are achievable despite the NP‑hardness of exact planning.

By Corentin Pla, Hugo Richard, Marc Abeille, Vianney Perchet
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 Machine Learning
Jul 7

A Hierarchy of Policy Learning Problems

arXiv:2607. 03385v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Policy learning has received substantial attention with the goal of learning policies from observational data for decision-making.

By Hamsa Bastani, Osbert Bastani, Shihan Chen