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Mini-batch stochastic gradient descent and variants thereof have become standard for large-scale empirical risk minimization like the training of neural networks. These methods are usually used with a constant batch size chosen by simple…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-06-29 Lukas Balles , Javier Romero , Philipp Hennig

In this contribution, we present a full overview of the continuous stochastic gradient (CSG) method, including convergence results, step size rules and algorithmic insights. We consider optimization problems in which the objective function…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-03-23 Max Grieshammer , Lukas Pflug , Michael Stingl , Andrian Uihlein

In this paper, we establish a theoretical comparison between the asymptotic mean-squared error of Double Q-learning and Q-learning. Our result builds upon an analysis for linear stochastic approximation based on Lyapunov equations and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-06-16 Wentao Weng , Harsh Gupta , Niao He , Lei Ying , R. Srikant

This paper is concerned with the design of algorithms based on systems of interacting particles to represent, approximate, and learn the optimal control law for reinforcement learning (RL). The primary contribution is that convergence rates…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-10-21 Anant A Joshi , Heng-Sheng Chang , Amirhossein Taghvaei , Prashant G Mehta , Sean P. Meyn

In this paper, inspired from our previous algorithm, which was based on the theory of Tsallis statistical mechanics, we develop a new evolving stochastic learning algorithm for neural networks. The new algorithm combines deterministic and…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2009-11-11 Aristoklis D. Anastasiadis , George D. Magoulas

This paper studies the continuous-time reinforcement learning in jump-diffusion models by featuring the q-learning (the continuous-time counterpart of Q-learning) under Tsallis entropy regularization. Contrary to the Shannon entropy, the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-02-16 Lijun Bo , Yijie Huang , Xiang Yu , Tingting Zhang

While Bayesian-based exploration often demonstrates superior empirical performance compared to bonus-based methods in model-based reinforcement learning (RL), its theoretical understanding remains limited for model-free settings. Existing…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-05 He Wang , Xingyu Xu , Yuejie Chi

Sampling is ubiquitous in machine learning methodologies. Due to the growth of large datasets and model complexity, we want to learn and adapt the sampling process while training a representation. Towards achieving this grand goal, a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-12-14 Jason Xiaotian Dou , Alvin Qingkai Pan , Runxue Bao , Haiyi Harry Mao , Lei Luo , Zhi-Hong Mao

Q-learning with neural network function approximation (neural Q-learning for short) is among the most prevalent deep reinforcement learning algorithms. Despite its empirical success, the non-asymptotic convergence rate of neural Q-learning…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-03-05 Pan Xu , Quanquan Gu

The Kaczmarz algorithm is a simple iterative scheme for solving consistent linear systems. At each step, the method projects the current iterate onto the solution space of a single constraint. Hence, it requires very low cost per iteration…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-02-27 Ion Necoara

In deep reinforcement learning, estimating the value function to evaluate the quality of states and actions is essential. The value function is often trained using the least squares method, which implicitly assumes a Gaussian error…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-03-28 Motoki Omura , Takayuki Osa , Yusuke Mukuta , Tatsuya Harada

A stochastic Forward-Backward algorithm with a constant step is studied. At each time step, this algorithm involves an independent copy of a couple of random maximal monotone operators. Defining a mean operator as a selection integral, the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-04-05 Pascal Bianchi , Walid Hachem , Adil Salim

Low-complexity models such as linear function representation play a pivotal role in enabling sample-efficient reinforcement learning (RL). The current paper pertains to a scenario with value-based linear representation, which postulates the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-10-19 Gen Li , Yuxin Chen , Yuejie Chi , Yuantao Gu , Yuting Wei

This paper studies an infinite horizon optimal control problem for discrete-time linear systems and quadratic criteria, both with random parameters which are independent and identically distributed with respect to time. A classical approach…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-11-11 Kai Du , Qingxin Meng , Fu Zhang

The convergence of stochastic gradient descent is highly dependent on the step-size, especially on non-convex problems such as neural network training. Step decay step-size schedules (constant and then cut) are widely used in practice…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-02-19 Xiaoyu Wang , Sindri Magnússon , Mikael Johansson

This paper provides a non-asymptotic analysis of linear stochastic approximation (LSA) algorithms with fixed stepsize. This family of methods arises in many machine learning tasks and is used to obtain approximate solutions of a linear…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-06-03 Alain Durmus , Eric Moulines , Alexey Naumov , Sergey Samsonov , Kevin Scaman , Hoi-To Wai

Many machine learning and optimization algorithms are built upon the framework of stochastic approximation (SA), for which the selection of step-size (or learning rate) $\{\alpha_n\}$ is crucial for success. An essential condition for…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2025-08-05 Caio Kalil Lauand , Sean Meyn

Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) has demonstrated success in solving complex sequential decision-making problems by integrating neural networks with the RL framework. However, training deep RL models poses several challenges, such as the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-30 Sooraj Sathish , Keshav Goyal , Raghuram Bharadwaj Diddigi

As a primary contribution, we present a convergence theorem for stochastic iterations, and in particular, Q-learning iterates, under a general, possibly non-Markovian, stochastic environment. Our conditions for convergence involve an…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-03-05 Ali Devran Kara , Serdar Yuksel

Establishing a fast rate of convergence for optimization methods is crucial to their applicability in practice. With the increasing popularity of deep learning over the past decade, stochastic gradient descent and its adaptive variants…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-01-03 Adityanarayanan Radhakrishnan , Mikhail Belkin , Caroline Uhler