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We propose a policy iteration method to solve an inverse problem for a mean-field game (MFG) model, specifically to reconstruct the obstacle function in the game from the partial observation data of value functions, which represent the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-02-12 Kui Ren , Nathan Soedjak , Shanyin Tong

In this paper we consider the problem of computing an $\epsilon$-optimal policy of a discounted Markov Decision Process (DMDP) provided we can only access its transition function through a generative sampling model that given any…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-06-07 Aaron Sidford , Mengdi Wang , Xian Wu , Lin F. Yang , Yinyu Ye

We build on a recently introduced geometric interpretation of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) to analyze classical MDP-solving algorithms: Value Iteration (VI) and Policy Iteration (PI). First, we develop a geometry-based analytical…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-03-07 Arsenii Mustafin , Aleksei Pakharev , Alex Olshevsky , Ioannis Ch. Paschalidis

Stochastic games are a classical model in game theory in which two opponents interact and the environment changes in response to the players' behavior. The central solution concepts for these games are the discounted values and the value,…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-12-12 Miquel Oliu-Barton

We introduce two-level discounted games played by two players on a perfect-information stochastic game graph. The upper level game is a discounted game and the lower level game is an undiscounted reachability game. Two-level games model…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2010-06-09 Krishnendu Chatterjee , Rupak Majumdar

We study Stackelberg equilibria in finitely repeated games, where the leader commits to a strategy that picks actions in each round and can be adaptive to the history of play (i.e. they commit to an algorithm). In particular, we study…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-03-08 Natalie Collina , Eshwar Ram Arunachaleswaran , Michael Kearns

We propose an algorithm for deterministic continuous Markov Decision Processes with sparse rewards that computes the optimal policy exactly with no dependency on the size of the state space. The algorithm has time complexity of $O( |R|^3…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-05-21 Joshua R. Bertram , Peng Wei

We revisit the problem of finding optimal strategies for deterministic Markov Decision Processes (DMDPs), and a closely related problem of testing feasibility of systems of $m$ linear inequalities on $n$ real variables with at most two…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-10-29 Adam Karczmarz

We consider approximate dynamic programming for the infinite-horizon stationary $\gamma$-discounted optimal control problem formalized by Markov Decision Processes. While in the exact case it is known that there always exists an optimal…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2013-04-23 Boris Lesner , Bruno Scherrer

We study two-player (zero-sum) concurrent mean-payoff games played on a finite-state graph. We focus on the important sub-class of ergodic games where all states are visited infinitely often with probability 1. The algorithmic study of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2014-04-24 Krishnendu Chatterjee , Rasmus Ibsen-Jensen

We study policy iteration for infinite-horizon Markov decision processes. It has recently been shown policy iteration style algorithms have exponential lower bounds in a two player game setting. We extend these lower bounds to Markov…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2010-03-18 John Fearnley

We consider two-player stochastic games played on a finite graph for infinitely many rounds. Stochastic games generalize both Markov decision processes (MDP) by adding an adversary player, and two-player deterministic games by adding…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-02-28 Laurent Doyen

We consider finite-state Markov decision processes with the combined Energy-MeanPayoff objective. The controller tries to avoid running out of energy while simultaneously attaining a strictly positive mean payoff in a second dimension. We…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-10-13 Mohan Dantam , Richard Mayr

This paper presents a new exponential lower bound for the two most popular deterministic variants of the strategy improvement algorithms for solving parity, mean payoff, discounted payoff and simple stochastic games. The first variant…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2015-07-01 Oliver Friedmann

Constrained decision-making is essential for designing safe policies in real-world control systems, yet simulated environments often fail to capture real-world adversities. We consider the problem of learning a policy that will maximize the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-10 Sourav Ganguly , Kishan Panaganti , Arnob Ghosh , Adam Wierman

The online Markov decision process (MDP) is a generalization of the classical Markov decision process that incorporates changing reward functions. In this paper, we propose practical online MDP algorithms with policy iteration and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-10-16 Yao Ma , Hao Zhang , Masashi Sugiyama

Unique Sink Orientations (USOs) are an appealing abstraction of several major optimization problems of applied mathematics such as for instance Linear Programming (LP), Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) or 2-player Turn Based Stochastic…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2015-01-12 Romain Hollanders , Balázs Gerencsér , Jean-Charles Delvenne , Raphaël M. Jungers

A basic model in sequential decision making is the Markov decision process (MDP), which is extended to Robust MDPs (RMDPs) by allowing uncertainty in transition probabilities and optimizing against the worst-case transition probabilities…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2026-05-11 Ali Asadi , Krishnendu Chatterjee , Alipasha Montaseri , Ali Shafiee

In this work, we study algorithms for learning in infinite-horizon undiscounted Markov decision processes (MDPs) with function approximation. We first show that the regret analysis of the Politex algorithm (a version of regularized policy…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-26 Nevena Lazic , Dong Yin , Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori , Csaba Szepesvari

We develop value iteration-based algorithms to solve in a unified manner different classes of combinatorial zero-sum games with mean-payoff type rewards. These algorithms rely on an oracle, evaluating the dynamic programming operator up to…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-11-12 Xavier Allamigeon , Stéphane Gaubert , Ricardo D. Katz , Mateusz Skomra