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We consider zero sum stochastic games. For every discount factor $\lambda$, a time normalization allows to represent the game as being played on the interval [0, 1]. We introduce the trajectories of cumulated expected payoff and of…
We give a 2-approximation algorithm for Non-Uniform Sparsest Cut that runs in time $n^{O(k)}$, where $k$ is the treewidth of the graph. This improves on the previous $2^{2^k}$-approximation in time $\poly(n) 2^{O(k)}$ due to Chlamt\'a\v{c}…
Model-based algorithms -- algorithms that explore the environment through building and utilizing an estimated model -- are widely used in reinforcement learning practice and theoretically shown to achieve optimal sample efficiency for…
We study the performance of sequential contention resolution and matching algorithms on random graphs with vanishing edge probabilities. When the edges of the graph are processed in an adversarially-chosen order, we derive a new OCRS that…
One of the intensely studied concepts of network robustness is $r$-robustness, which is a network topology property quantified by an integer $r$. It is required by mean subsequence reduced (MSR) algorithms and their variants to achieve…
Fictitious play (FP) is a canonical game-theoretic learning algorithm which has been deployed extensively in decentralized control scenarios. However standard treatments of FP, and of many other game-theoretic models, assume rather…
For a graph $G$, let $Z(G,\lambda)$ be the partition function of the monomer-dimer system defined by $\sum_k m_k(G)\lambda^k$, where $m_k(G)$ is the number of matchings of size $k$ in $G$. We consider graphs of bounded degree and develop a…
Applications in machine learning, optimization, and control require the sequential selection of a few system elements, such as sensors, data, or actuators, to optimize the system performance across multiple time steps. However, in…
We present the first data structures that maintain near optimal maximum cardinality and maximum weighted matchings on sparse graphs in sublinear time per update. Our main result is a data structure that maintains a $(1+\epsilon)$…
We propose a new algorithm that finds an $\varepsilon$-approximate fixed point of a smooth function from the $n$-dimensional $\ell_2$ unit ball to itself. We use the general framework of finding approximate solutions to a variational…
The classic algorithm [Papadimitriou, J.ACM '81] for IPs has a running time $n^{O(m)}(m\cdot\max\{\Delta,\|\textbf{b}\|_{\infty}\})^{O(m^2)}$, where $m$ is the number of constraints, $n$ is the number of variables, and $\Delta$ and…
Previous work has shown the effectiveness of random walk hitting times as a measure of dissimilarity in a variety of graph-based learning problems such as collaborative filtering, query suggestion or finding paraphrases. However,…
We consider zero-sum games on infinite graphs, with objectives specified as sets of infinite words over some alphabet of colors. A well-studied class of objectives is the one of $\omega$-regular objectives, due to its relation to many…
A fundamental question in reinforcement learning theory is: suppose the optimal value functions are linear in given features, can we learn them efficiently? This problem's counterpart in supervised learning, linear regression, can be solved…
Let $\Phi = (V, \mathcal{C})$ be a constraint satisfaction problem on variables $v_1,\dots, v_n$ such that each constraint depends on at most $k$ variables and such that each variable assumes values in an alphabet of size at most $[q]$.…
We study $n$-player turn-based games played on a finite directed graph. For each play, the players have to pay a cost that they want to minimize. Instead of the well-known notion of Nash equilibrium (NE), we focus on the notion of subgame…
Two kinds of approximation algorithms exist for the k-BALANCED PARTITIONING problem: those that are fast but compute unsatisfying approximation ratios, and those that guarantee high quality ratios but are slow. In this paper we prove that…
We study the problem of robustly estimating the parameter $p$ of an Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph on $n$ nodes, where a $\gamma$ fraction of nodes may be adversarially corrupted. After showing the deficiencies of canonical estimators, we…
We study functions $f : [0, 1]^d \rightarrow [0, 1]^d$ that are both monotone and contracting, and we consider the problem of finding an $\varepsilon$-approximate fixed point of $f$. We show that the problem lies in the complexity class…
We consider the family of $\Phi$-Subset problems, where the input consists of an instance $I$ of size $N$ over a universe $U_I$ of size $n$ and the task is to check whether the universe contains a subset with property $\Phi$ (e.g., $\Phi$…