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Related papers: Accelerating Value Iteration with Anchoring

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Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) have recently become popular among many AI researchers because they serve as a natural model for planning under uncertainty. Value iteration is a well-known algorithm for finding…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2011-06-02 N. L. Zhang , W. Zhang

We present the convergence rates of synchronous and asynchronous Q-learning for average-reward Markov decision processes, where the absence of contraction poses a fundamental challenge. Existing non-asymptotic results overcome this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-30 Zijun Chen , Zaiwei Chen , Nian Si , Shengbo Wang

We study the problem of infinite-horizon average-reward reinforcement learning with linear Markov decision processes (MDPs). The associated Bellman operator of the problem not being a contraction makes the algorithm design challenging.…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-03-12 Kihyuk Hong , Woojin Chae , Yufan Zhang , Dabeen Lee , Ambuj Tewari

We present the first finite-sample analysis of policy evaluation in robust average-reward Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). Prior work in this setting have established only asymptotic convergence guarantees, leaving open the question of…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-12-11 Yang Xu , Washim Uddin Mondal , Vaneet Aggarwal

The constrained gradient method (CGM) has recently been proposed to solve convex optimization and monotone variational inequality (VI) problems with general functional constraints. While existing literature has established convergence…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-11-24 Danqing Zhou , Hongmei Chen , Shiqian Ma , Junfeng Yang

In this paper, we provide a new algorithm for the problem of prediction in Reinforcement Learning, \emph{i.e.}, estimating the Value Function of a Markov Reward Process (MRP) using the linear function approximation architecture, with memory…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2016-09-30 Ajin George Joseph , Shalabh Bhatnagar

A set of accelerated first order algorithms with memory are proposed for minimising strongly convex functions. The algorithms are differentiated by their use of the iterate history for the gradient step. The increased convergence rate of…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-08-31 Ross Drummond , Stephen Duncan

Following the first part of our project, this paper comprehensively studies two types of extragradient-based methods: anchored extragradient and Nesterov's accelerated extragradient for solving [non]linear inclusions (and, in particular,…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-03-11 Quoc Tran-Dinh , Nghia Nguyen-Trung

Despite the broad use of fixed-point iterations throughout applied mathematics, the optimal convergence rate of general fixed-point problems with nonexpansive nonlinear operators has not been established. This work presents an acceleration…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-06-28 Jisun Park , Ernest K. Ryu

In machine unlearning, $(\varepsilon,\delta)-$unlearning is a popular framework that provides formal guarantees on the effectiveness of the removal of a subset of training data, the forget set, from a trained model. For strongly convex…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-17 Martin Van Waerebeke , Marco Lorenzi , Kevin Scaman , El Mahdi El Mhamdi , Giovanni Neglia

Online reinforcement learning (RL) with complex function approximations such as transformers and deep neural networks plays a significant role in the modern practice of artificial intelligence. Despite its popularity and importance,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-30 Tong Yang , Bo Dai , Lin Xiao , Yuejie Chi

Although in recent years reinforcement learning has become very popular the number of successful applications to different kinds of operations research problems is rather scarce. Reinforcement learning is based on the well-studied dynamic…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-04-03 Manuel Schneckenreither

Aligning Large Language Models (LLMs) to cater to different human preferences, learning new skills, and unlearning harmful behavior is an important problem. Search-based methods, such as Best-of-N or Monte-Carlo Tree Search, are performant,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-13 Seungwook Han , Idan Shenfeld , Akash Srivastava , Yoon Kim , Pulkit Agrawal

Recently Grimmer [1] showed for smooth convex optimization by utilizing longer steps periodically, gradient descent's textbook $LD^2/2T$ convergence guarantees can be improved by constant factors, conjecturing an accelerated rate strictly…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-09-28 Benjamin Grimmer , Kevin Shu , Alex L. Wang

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…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-12-10 Huizhen Yu , Yi Wan , Richard S. Sutton

This work introduces a moving anchor acceleration technique to extragradient algorithms for smooth structured minimax problems. The moving anchor is introduced as a generalization of the original algorithmic anchoring framework, i.e. the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-06-03 James K. Alcala , Yat Tin Chow , Mahesh Sunkula

Reinforcement learning (RL) for exponential-utility optimization in discounted Markov decision processes (MDPs) lacks principled value-based algorithms. We address this gap in the fixed risk-aversion setting. Building on the Bellman-type…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-11 Gugan Thoppe , L. A. Prashanth , Ankur Naskar , Sanjay Bhat

We propose an adaptive way to choose the anchoring parameters for the Halpern iteration to find a fixed point of a nonexpansive mapping in a real Hilbert space. We prove strong convergence of this adaptive Halpern iteration and obtain the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-05-19 Songnian He , Hong-Kun Xu , Qiao-Li Dong , Na Mei

Uncertainty computation in deep learning is essential to design robust and reliable systems. Variational inference (VI) is a promising approach for such computation, but requires more effort to implement and execute compared to…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2018-08-03 Mohammad Emtiyaz Khan , Didrik Nielsen , Voot Tangkaratt , Wu Lin , Yarin Gal , Akash Srivastava

Data acquisition efficiency is a central challenge in deploying reinforcement learning in business and healthcare operations, where interactions are costly, slow, and often involve humans in the loop. This paper develops a unified large…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-28 Mingjie Hu , Jian-Qiang Hu , Enlu Zhou