Related papers: Finite-Sample Analysis of Stochastic Approximation…
We study constrained nested stochastic optimization problems in which the objective function is a composition of two smooth functions whose exact values and derivatives are not available. We propose a single time-scale stochastic…
We study the problem of minimizing the average of a very large number of smooth functions, which is of key importance in training supervised learning models. One of the most celebrated methods in this context is the SAGA algorithm. Despite…
Stochastic policies (also known as relaxed controls) are widely used in continuous-time reinforcement learning algorithms. However, executing a stochastic policy and evaluating its performance in a continuous-time environment remain open…
This paper is a study on solutions of the Sample Average Approximation Method to solve compound stochastic programs. We derive nonasymptotic upper estimates for probabilities of the approximation errors. The results depend on the sample…
Stochastic approximation (SA) that involves multiple coupled sequences, known as multiple-sequence SA (MSSA), finds diverse applications in the fields of signal processing and machine learning. However, existing theoretical understandings…
We begin by briefly surveying some results on the convergence of the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) Method, proved in a companion paper by the present authors. These results are based on viewing SGD as a version of Stochastic…
Sample average approximation (SAA), a popular method for tractably solving stochastic optimization problems, enjoys strong asymptotic performance guarantees in settings with independent training samples. However, these guarantees are not…
The standard theory of stochastic approximation (SA) is extended to the case when the constraint set is a Riemannian manifold. Specifically, the standard ODE method for analyzing SA schemes is extended to iterations constrained to stay on a…
This paper investigates the stability and convergence properties of asynchronous stochastic approximation (SA) algorithms, with a focus on extensions relevant to average-reward reinforcement learning. We first extend a stability proof…
This paper considers the stochastic convex composite optimization problem and presents multi-cut stochastic approximation (SA) methods for solving it, whose models in expectation overestimate its objective function. The multi-cut model…
SARSA is an on-policy algorithm to learn a Markov decision process policy in reinforcement learning. We investigate the SARSA algorithm with linear function approximation under the non-i.i.d.\ data, where a single sample trajectory is…
Stochastic approximation is a powerful class of algorithms with celebrated success. However, a large body of previous analysis focuses on stochastic approximations driven by contractive operators, which is not applicable in some important…
We present adaptive sequential SAA (sample average approximation) algorithms to solve large-scale two-stage stochastic linear programs. The iterative algorithm framework we propose is organized into \emph{outer} and \emph{inner} iterations…
We developed a corporative stochastic approximation (CSA) type algorithm for semi-infinite programming (SIP), where the cut generation problem is solved inexactly. First, we provide general error bounds for inexact CSA. Then, we propose two…
Stochastic approximation (SA) is a powerful class of iterative algorithms for nonlinear root-finding that can be used for minimizing a loss function, $L(\boldsymbol{\theta})$, with respect to a parameter vector $\boldsymbol{\theta}$, when…
Stochastic approximation (SA) with multiple coupled sequences has found broad applications in machine learning such as bilevel learning and reinforcement learning (RL). In this paper, we study the finite-time convergence of nonlinear SA…
This paper presents a finite time convergence analysis for a decentralized stochastic approximation (SA) scheme. The scheme generalizes several algorithms for decentralized machine learning and multi-agent reinforcement learning. Our proof…
Motivated by applications in large-scale and multi-agent reinforcement learning, we study the non-asymptotic performance of stochastic approximation (SA) schemes with delayed updates under Markovian sampling. While the effect of delays has…
Theory and application of stochastic approximation (SA) have become increasingly relevant due in part to applications in optimization and reinforcement learning. This paper takes a new look at SA with constant step-size $\alpha>0$, defined…
This paper considers the problem of minimizing an expectation function over a closed convex set, coupled with a {\color{black} functional or expectation} constraint on either decision variables or problem parameters. We first present a new…