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We study reinforcement learning with multinomial logistic (MNL) function approximation where the underlying transition probability kernel of the Markov decision processes (MDPs) is parametrized by an unknown transition core with features of…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2024-11-01 Wooseong Cho , Taehyun Hwang , Joongkyu Lee , Min-hwan Oh

This paper proposes a computationally tractable algorithm for learning infinite-horizon average-reward linear Markov decision processes (MDPs) and linear mixture MDPs under the Bellman optimality condition. While guaranteeing computational…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-09-25 Woojin Chae , Dabeen Lee

In our quest for a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm that is both practical and provably optimal, we introduce EQO (Exploration via Quasi-Optimism). Unlike existing minimax optimal approaches, EQO avoids reliance on empirical variances…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-29 Harin Lee , Min-hwan Oh

We study reinforcement learning (RL) with linear function approximation where the underlying transition probability kernel of the Markov decision process (MDP) is a linear mixture model (Jia et al., 2020; Ayoub et al., 2020; Zhou et al.,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-01-08 Dongruo Zhou , Quanquan Gu , Csaba Szepesvari

We present the OMG-CMDP! algorithm for regret minimization in adversarial Contextual MDPs. The algorithm operates under the minimal assumptions of realizable function class and access to online least squares and log loss regression oracles.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-08-15 Orin Levy , Alon Cohen , Asaf Cassel , Yishay Mansour

We study reinforcement learning (RL) for the same class of continuous-time stochastic linear--quadratic (LQ) control problems as in \cite{huang2024sublinear}, where volatilities depend on both states and controls while states are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-24 Yilie Huang , Xun Yu Zhou

Online reinforcement learning in infinite-horizon Markov decision processes (MDPs) remains less theoretically and algorithmically developed than its episodic counterpart, with many algorithms suffering from high ``burn-in'' costs and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-26 Guy Zamir , Matthew Zurek , Yudong Chen

We study reinforcement learning (RL) for decision processes with non-Markovian reward, in which high-level knowledge of the task in the form of reward machines is available to the learner. We consider probabilistic reward machines with…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-12-30 Hippolyte Bourel , Anders Jonsson , Odalric-Ambrym Maillard , Chenxiao Ma , Mohammad Sadegh Talebi

We study the reinforcement learning problem in the setting of finite-horizon episodic Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) with $S$ states, $A$ actions, and episode length $H$. We propose a model-free algorithm UCB-Advantage and prove that it…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-06-09 Zihan Zhang , Yuan Zhou , Xiangyang Ji

Reinforcement learning (RL) has traditionally been understood from an episodic perspective; the concept of non-episodic RL, where there is no restart and therefore no reliable recovery, remains elusive. A fundamental question in…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-05-31 Shuang Liu , Hao Su

We develop several provably efficient model-free reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms for infinite-horizon average-reward Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). We consider both online setting and the setting with access to a simulator. In the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-06-29 Zihan Zhang , Qiaomin Xie

Inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) seeks to learn the reward function from expert trajectories, to understand the task for imitation or collaboration thereby removing the need for manual reward engineering. However, IRL in the context of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-11-13 Yikang Gui , Prashant Doshi

Model-free reinforcement learning algorithms combined with value function approximation have recently achieved impressive performance in a variety of application domains. However, the theoretical understanding of such algorithms is limited,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-02-12 Botao Hao , Nevena Lazic , Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori , Pooria Joulani , Csaba Szepesvari

We consider reinforcement learning (RL) in episodic MDPs with adversarial full-information reward feedback and unknown fixed transition kernels. We propose two model-free policy optimization algorithms, POWER and POWER++, and establish…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-07-02 Yingjie Fei , Zhuoran Yang , Zhaoran Wang , Qiaomin Xie

Inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) aims to learn a reward function and a corresponding policy that best fit the demonstrated trajectories of an expert. However, current IRL works cannot learn incrementally from an ongoing trajectory…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-24 Shicheng Liu , Minghui Zhu

The Matrix Multiplicative Weight Update (MMWU) is a seminal online learning algorithm with numerous applications. Applied to the matrix version of the Learning from Expert Advice (LEA) problem on the $d$-dimensional spectraplex, it is well…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-12 Weiyuan Gong , Tongyang Li , Xinzhao Wang , Zhiyu Zhang

We address the problem of learning in an online setting where the learner repeatedly observes features, selects among a set of actions, and receives reward for the action taken. We provide the first efficient algorithm with an optimal…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2011-06-17 Miroslav Dudik , Daniel Hsu , Satyen Kale , Nikos Karampatziakis , John Langford , Lev Reyzin , Tong Zhang

We study risk-sensitive reinforcement learning in episodic Markov decision processes with unknown transition kernels, where the goal is to optimize the total reward under the risk measure of exponential utility. We propose two provably…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-06-25 Yingjie Fei , Zhuoran Yang , Yudong Chen , Zhaoran Wang , Qiaomin Xie

We study nonstationary Online Linear Programming (OLP), where $n$ orders arrive sequentially with reward-resource consumption pairs that form a sequence of independent, but not necessarily identically distributed, random vectors. At the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-03-17 Haoran Xu , Owen Shen , Peter Glynn , Yinyu Ye , Patrick Jaillet

This work pioneers regret analysis of risk-sensitive reinforcement learning in partially observable environments with hindsight observation, addressing a gap in theoretical exploration. We introduce a novel formulation that integrates…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-29 Tonghe Zhang , Yu Chen , Longbo Huang