English

Probabilistic error analysis for some approximation schemes to optimal control problems

Optimization and Control 2020-01-07 v3

Abstract

We introduce a class of numerical schemes for optimal control problems based on a novel Markov chain approximation, which uses, in turn, a piecewise constant policy approximation, Euler-Maruyama time stepping, and a Gauss-Hermite approximation of the Gaussian increments. We provide lower error bounds of order arbitrarily close to 1/2 in time and 1/3 in space for Lipschitz viscosity solutions, coupling probabilistic arguments with regularization techniques as introduced by Krylov. The corresponding order of the upper bounds is 1/4 in time and 1/5 in space. For sufficiently regular solutions, the order is 1 in both time and space for both bounds. Finally, we propose techniques for further improving the accuracy of the individual components of the approximation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1810.04691,
  title  = {Probabilistic error analysis for some approximation schemes to optimal control problems},
  author = {Athena Picarelli and Christoph Reisinger},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.04691},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T04:35:20.603Z