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.
By Emmy Blumenthal, Nikolas Claussen, Benjamin Eysenbach, Catherine Ji, Gautam Reddy, Colin Scheibner, Benjamin Sorkin
arXiv:2606. 24999v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: High-dimensional partial differential equations (PDEs) with unknown coefficients arise widely in scientific machine learning, including continuous-time reinforcement learning, yet solving them efficiently in a data-driven way remains challenging.
By Yanwei Jia, Du Ouyang, Huy\^en Pham, Xun Yu Zhou
The paper introduces a mesh‑free kernel method for continuum‑marginal optimal transport, aiming to recover the minimum‑energy velocity field that reproduces a continuous family of probability marginals. By embedding the weak continuity equation into a reproducing kernel Hilbert space, the authors obtain a sample‑only objective that eliminates spatial discretization. The velocity is represented via a linear‑in‑parameters dictionary or neural network and optimized with mini‑batch stochastic techniques, achieving accurate drift recovery and marginal consistency in synthetic experiments, and the framework also extends to the Nelson problem of stochastic optimal transport.
By Yumiharu Nakano
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.
By Jin Ma, Gaozhan Wang, Jianfeng Zhang, Xunyu Zhou
arXiv:2012.01194v3 Announce Type: replace-cross
Abstract: In this article, we introduce a deep learning based approximation algorithm for SPDEs. Our approach employs neural networks to approximate th...
By Christian Beck, Sebastian Becker, Patrick Cheridito, Arnulf Jentzen, Ariel Neufeld
arXiv:2411. 01982v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: We study the problem of learning controlled stochastic differential equations (SDEs) \[ dX_t = b(t,X_t,u_t)\,dt + \sigma(t,X_t,u_t)\,dW_t, \] whose drift and diffusion depend nonlinearly on time, state, and control values.
By Luc Brogat-Motte, Riccardo Bonalli, Alessandro Rudi