Related papers: A Concentration Bound for TD(0) with Function Appr…
We study the approximation of a Markov chain on a reduced state space, for both discrete- and continuous-time Markov chains. In this context, we extend the existing theory of formal error bounds for the approximated transient distributions.…
We study inductive matrix completion (matrix completion with side information) under an i.i.d. subgaussian noise assumption at a low noise regime, with uniform sampling of the entries. We obtain for the first time generalization bounds with…
We revisit the convergence analysis of constant stepsize stochastic approximation (SA) with decision-dependent Markovian noise, with a focus on characterizing the stationary bias against the root of the mean-field equation. We first…
This paper compiles several aspects of the dynamics of stochastic approximation algorithms with Markov iterate-dependent noise when the iterates are not known to be stable beforehand. We achieve the same by extending the lock-in probability…
This paper uses the generator approach of Stein's method to analyze the gap between steady-state distributions of Markov chains and diffusion processes. Until now, the standard way to invoke Stein's method for this problem was to use the…
Via operator theoretic methods, we formalize the concentration phenomenon for a given observable `$r$' of a discrete time Markov chain with `$\mu_{\pi}$' as invariant ergodic measure, possibly having support on an unbounded state space. The…
Temporal difference learning with linear function approximation is a popular method to obtain a low-dimensional approximation of the value function of a policy in a Markov Decision Process. We give a new interpretation of this method in…
This paper addresses the issue of policy evaluation in Markov Decision Processes, using linear function approximation. It provides a unified view of algorithms such as TD(lambda), LSTD(lambda), iLSTD, residual-gradient TD. It is asserted…
One of the fundamental challenges in the deep learning community is to theoretically understand how well a deep neural network generalizes to unseen data. However, current approaches often yield generalization bounds that are either too…
Two-timescale stochastic approximation (TTSA) is among the most general frameworks for iterative stochastic algorithms. This includes well-known stochastic optimization methods such as SGD variants and those designed for bilevel or minimax…
Inverse optimization (IO) seeks to infer the parameters of a decision-maker's objective from observed context--action data. We study noiseless IO, where demonstrations are generated by a ground-truth objective. We provide a high-probability…
Motivated by robotic surveillance applications, this paper studies the novel problem of maximizing the return time entropy of a Markov chain, subject to a graph topology with travel times and stationary distribution. The return time entropy…
In this paper, we study non-asymptotic deviation bounds of the least squares estimator in Gaussian AR($n$) processes. By relying on martingale concentration inequalities and a tail-bound for $\chi^2$ distributed variables, we provide a…
Concentration inequalities are widely used for analyzing machine learning algorithms. However, current concentration inequalities cannot be applied to some of the most popular deep neural networks, notably in natural language processing.…
We study the statistical inference of nonlinear stochastic approximation algorithms utilizing a single trajectory of Markovian data. Our methodology has practical applications in various scenarios, such as Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD)…
We consider a Markov chain $\{X_n\}_{n=0}^\8$ on $\R^d$ defined by the stochastic recursion $X_{n}=M_n X_{n-1}+Q_n$, where $(Q_n,M_n)$ are i.i.d. random variables taking values in the affine group $H=\R^d\rtimes {\rm GL}(\R^d)$. Assume that…
Understanding how systems respond to external perturbations is fundamental to statistical physics. For systems far from equilibrium, a general framework for response remains elusive. While progress has been made on the linear response of…
We study normal approximations for a class of discrete-time occupancy processes, namely, Markov chains with transition kernels of product Bernoulli form. This class encompasses numerous models which appear in the complex networks…
Donsker Theorem is perhaps the most famous invariance principle result for Markov processes. It states that when properly normalized, a random walk behaves asymptotically like a Brownian motion. This approach can be extended to general…
In this paper, we establish novel concentration inequalities for additive functionals of geometrically ergodic Markov chains similar to Rosenthal inequalities for sums of independent random variables. We pay special attention to the…