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Learning to control unknown nonlinear dynamical systems is a fundamental problem in reinforcement learning and control theory. A commonly applied approach is to first explore the environment (exploration), learn an accurate model of it…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-06-16 Andrew Wagenmaker , Guanya Shi , Kevin Jamieson

Driven barrier crossings are pervasive in optical-trapping experiments and steered molecular-dynamics simulations. Despite the high fidelity of control, the freedom in the choice of driving protocol is rarely exploited to improve…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-07-06 Steven Blaber , David A. Sivak

This paper presents an optimization-based receding horizon trajectory planning algorithm for dynamical systems operating in unstructured and cluttered environments. The proposed approach is a two-step procedure that uses a motion planning…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-12-12 Kristoffer Bergman , Oskar Ljungqvist , Torkel Glad , Daniel Axehill

Predicting the response of an observed system to a known input is a fruitful first step to accurately control the system's dynamics. Despite the recent advances in fully data-driven algorithms, the most interpretable way to reach this goal…

Dynamical Systems · Mathematics 2026-03-03 Laurent Pagnier , Melvyn Tyloo , Akshita Jindal , Pragati Thakur , Kyle C. A. Wedgwood

Optimal transportation provides a means of lifting distances between points on a geometric domain to distances between signals over the domain, expressed as probability distributions. On a graph, transportation problems can be used to…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-03-26 Montacer Essid , Justin Solomon

Learning is a complex dynamical process shaped by a range of interconnected decisions. Careful design of hyperparameter schedules for artificial neural networks or efficient allocation of cognitive resources by biological learners can…

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Physics 2025-07-11 Francesca Mignacco , Francesco Mori

Optimization plays a central role in intelligent systems and cyber-physical technologies, where speed and reliability of convergence directly impact performance. In control theory, optimization-centric methods are standard: controllers are…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-23 Liraz Mudrik , Isaac Kaminer , Sean Kragelund , Abram H. Clark

Efficient control schemes that enable fast, high-fidelity operations are essential for any practical quantum computation. However, current optimization protocols are intractable due to stringent requirements imposed by the microscopic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-13 Christian Ventura Meinersen , Stefano Bosco , Maximilian Rimbach-Russ

A thermal analogue of the classical brachistochrone problem, which minimizes the connection time between two equilibrium states of harmonically confined Brownian particles, has recently been solved theoretically. Here we report its…

We propose a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) framework based on a direct optimal control method that ensures continuous-time constraint satisfaction and accurate evaluation of the running cost, without compromising computational…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-05-02 Samet Uzun , Purnanand Elango , Abhinav G. Kamath , Taewan Kim , Behcet Acikmese

We present a method to design driving protocols that achieve fast thermal equilibration of a system of interest using techniques inspired by machine learning training algorithms. For example, consider a Brownian particle manipulated by…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-06-25 Diego Rengifo , Gabriel Téllez

Thermodynamic computing exploits fluctuations and dissipation in physical systems to efficiently solve various mathematical problems. For example, it was recently shown that certain linear algebra problems can be solved thermodynamically,…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2024-01-08 Samuel Duffield , Maxwell Aifer , Gavin Crooks , Thomas Ahle , Patrick J. Coles

We investigate the optimization of quantum control from a differential geometric perspective. In our approach, optimal control minimizes the cost associated with evolving a quantum state, with the cost quantified by the length of the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-05-27 Chengming Tan , Yuhao Cai , Jinyi Zhang , Shengli Ma , Chenwei Lv , Ren Zhang

We experimentally and theoretically study the thermodynamically optimal control of interacting multiple-particle systems, focusing on collections of colloidal particles individually confined in optical traps. We investigate protocols that…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-03-19 Samuel Monter , Lars T. Stutzer , Sarah A. M. Loos , Clemens Bechinger

Thermodynamics is traditionally concerned with systems comprised of a large number of particles. Here we present a framework for extending thermodynamics to individual quantum systems, including explicitly a thermal bath and work-storage…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-09-29 Paul Skrzypczyk , Anthony J. Short , Sandu Popescu

Due to their versatility in investigating phenomena in microscopic scales, optical tweezers have been an excellent platform for studying stochastic thermodynamics. In this context, this work presents experimental measurements of the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-09-15 Thalyta Tavares Martins , Lucas Prado Kamizaki , Sérgio Ricardo Muniz

Optimal control of stochastic nonlinear dynamical systems is a major challenge in the domain of robot learning. Given the intractability of the global control problem, state-of-the-art algorithms focus on approximate sequential optimization…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-04-23 Joe Watson , Hany Abdulsamad , Jan Peters

We study thermodynamic processes in contact with a heat bath that may have an arbitrary time-varying periodic temperature profile. Within the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, and for models of thermo-dynamic engines in the idealized…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-04-06 Olga Movilla Miangolarra , Rui Fu , Amirhossein Taghvaei , Yongxin Chen , Tryphon T. Georgiou

In this paper, we demonstrate an approach to quantum robust control based on the tools of geometric optimal control. The central objects of interest are the sensitivity functions defined as the coefficients in the Taylor expansion of the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-03-31 Francesca Albertini , Domenico D'Alessandro

The investigation of optimal processes has a long history in the field of thermodynamics. It is well known that finite-time processes that minimize dissipation often exhibit discontinuities. We use a combination of numerical and analytical…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-05-31 Ilana Bogod , Saar Rahav