English

Limit theory for controlled McKean-Vlasov dynamics

Probability 2016-09-27 v1 Optimization and Control

Abstract

This paper rigorously connects the problem of optimal control of McKean-Vlasov dynamics with large systems of interacting controlled state processes. Precisely, the empirical distributions of near-optimal control-state pairs for the nn-state systems, as nn tends to infinity, admit limit points in distribution (if the objective functions are suitably coercive), and every such limit is supported on the set of optimal control-state pairs for the McKean-Vlasov problem. Conversely, any distribution on the set of optimal control-state pairs for the McKean-Vlasov problem can be realized as a limit in this manner. Arguments are based on controlled martingale problems, which lend themselves naturally to existence proofs; along the way it is shown that a large class of McKean-Vlasov control problems admit optimal Markovian controls.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.08064,
  title  = {Limit theory for controlled McKean-Vlasov dynamics},
  author = {Daniel Lacker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.08064},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:01:44.555Z