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We consider a multi-armed bandit framework where the rewards obtained by pulling different arms are correlated. We develop a unified approach to leverage these reward correlations and present fundamental generalizations of classic bandit…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-09-13 Samarth Gupta , Shreyas Chaudhari , Gauri Joshi , Osman Yağan

We provide a simple method to combine stochastic bandit algorithms. Our approach is based on a "meta-UCB" procedure that treats each of $N$ individual bandit algorithms as arms in a higher-level $N$-armed bandit problem that we solve with a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-25 Ashok Cutkosky , Abhimanyu Das , Manish Purohit

The Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) problem is challenging in non-stationary environments where reward distributions evolve dynamically. We introduce RAVEN-UCB, a novel algorithm that combines theoretical rigor with practical efficiency via…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-04 Junyi Fang , Yuxun Chen , Yuxin Chen , Chen Zhang

While classical formulations of multi-armed bandit problems assume that each arm's reward is independent and stationary, real-world applications often involve non-stationary environments and interdependencies between arms. In particular,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-19 Ryoma Sato , Shinji Ito

In the regret-based formulation of Multi-armed Bandit (MAB) problems, except in rare instances, much of the literature focuses on arms with i.i.d. rewards. In this paper, we consider the problem of obtaining regret guarantees for MAB…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-11 Arghyadip Roy , Sanjay Shakkottai , R. Srikant

The multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem is a classic example of the exploration-exploitation dilemma. It is concerned with maximising the total rewards for a gambler by sequentially pulling an arm from a multi-armed slot machine where each arm…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2018-05-16 Xue Lu , Niall Adams , Nikolas Kantas

Multi-armed bandit (MAB) is a class of online learning problems where a learning agent aims to maximize its expected cumulative reward while repeatedly selecting to pull arms with unknown reward distributions. We consider a scenario where…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-01-25 Yang Cao , Zheng Wen , Branislav Kveton , Yao Xie

We analyze the $K$-armed bandit problem where the reward for each arm is a noisy realization based on an observed context under mild nonparametric assumptions. We attain tight results for top-arm identification and a sublinear regret of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-01-08 Melody Y. Guan , Heinrich Jiang

The multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem is a classical problem that models sequential decision-making under uncertainty in reinforcement learning. In this study, we propose a new generalized upper confidence bound (UCB) algorithm (GWA-UCB1) by…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-29 Nobuhito Manome , Shuji Shinohara , Ung-il Chung

We study a stochastic multi-armed bandit setting where arms are partitioned into known clusters, such that the mean rewards of arms within a cluster differ by at most a known threshold. While the clustering structure is known a priori, the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-20 Aakash Gore , Prasanna Chaporkar

Motivated by wireless networks where interference or channel state estimates provide partial insight into throughput, we study a variant of the classical stochastic multi-armed bandit problem in which the learner has limited access to…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-03 Arun Verma , Manjesh Kumar Hanawal , Arun Rajkumar

One of the key drivers of complexity in the classical (stochastic) multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem is the difference between mean rewards in the top two arms, also known as the instance gap. The celebrated Upper Confidence Bound (UCB)…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-10-27 Anand Kalvit , Assaf Zeevi

The multi-armed bandit (MAB) problems are widely studied in fields of operations research, stochastic optimization, and reinforcement learning. In this paper, we consider the classical MAB model with heavy-tailed reward distributions and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-16 Keqin Liu , Tianshuo Zheng , Zhi-Hua Zhou

This paper studies a new variant of the stochastic multi-armed bandits problem where auxiliary information about the arm rewards is available in the form of control variates. In many applications like queuing and wireless networks, the arm…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-01-19 Arun Verma , Manjesh K. Hanawal

The classical multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem involves a learner and a collection of K independent arms, each with its own ex ante unknown independent reward distribution. At each one of a finite number of rounds, the learner selects one…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-05-07 Hongda Hu , Arthur Charpentier , Mario Ghossoub , Alexander Schied

The multi-armed bandit(MAB) problem is a simple yet powerful framework that has been extensively studied in the context of decision-making under uncertainty. In many real-world applications, such as robotic applications, selecting an arm…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-21 Tianpeng Zhang , Kasper Johansson , Na Li

We consider the combinatorial bandits problem, where at each time step, the online learner selects a size-$k$ subset $s$ from the arms set $\mathcal{A}$, where $\left|\mathcal{A}\right| = n$, and observes a stochastic reward of each arm in…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-03-05 Shuo Yang , Tongzheng Ren , Inderjit S. Dhillon , Sujay Sanghavi

The multi-armed bandits' framework is the most common platform to study strategies for sequential decision-making problems. Recently, the notion of fairness has attracted a lot of attention in the machine learning community. One can impose…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-25 Shaarad A. R , Ambedkar Dukkipati

Motivated by recursive learning in Markov Decision Processes, this paper studies best-arm identification in bandit problems where each arm's reward is drawn from a multinomial distribution with a known support. We compare the performance {…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-19 Mehrasa Ahmadipour , élise Crepon , Aurélien Garivier

In this paper, we study the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem with graph feedback. Motivated by applications in clinical trials and recommendation systems, we assume that two arms are connected if and only if they are similar (i.e.,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-18 Han Qi , Fei Guo , Li Zhu , Qiaosheng Zhang