The paper presents a convergence analysis of the Wasserstein proximal algorithm without requiring geodesic convexity of the objective functional. By assuming a Wasserstein analog of the Euclidean Polyak–Łojasiewicz inequality, the authors prove that the algorithm achieves unbiased, linear convergence, improving on previous rates that required strong geodesic convexity. The analysis is extended to inexact proximal steps for geodesically semiconvex objectives, and numerical experiments show faster convergence than noisy gradient descent on mean‑field neural networks.
By Shuailong Zhu, Xiaohui Chen
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.
By Zhaoyu Zhu, Rui Gao, Shuang Li
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:2102. 09235v3 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Recent studies revealed the mathematical connection between deep neural networks (DNNs) and dynamic systems.
By Kuo Gai, Shihua Zhang
arXiv:2610.01413v1 Announce Type: cross
Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms frequently compare probability distributions, such as state visitation distributions induced by policies and e...
By Yujie Zhu, Charles A. Hepburn, Matthew Thorpe, Giovanni Montana
arXiv:2608. 07433v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Wasserstein policy gradient (WPG) updates state-conditional action laws by transport in the action space.
By Zhaoyu Zhu, Rui Gao, Shuang Li