Related papers: The Collusion of Memory and Nonlinearity in Stocha…
This paper discusses the problem of estimating a stochastic signal from nonlinear uncertain observations with time-correlated additive noise described by a first-order Markov process. Random deception attacks are assumed to be launched by…
This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of stochastic recursive inclusions in the presence of non-zero, non-diminishing bias, a setting that frequently arises in zeroth-order optimization, stochastic approximation with…
Stochastic approximation (SA) and stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithms are work-horses for modern machine learning algorithms. Their constant stepsize variants are preferred in practice due to fast convergence behavior. However,…
We provide results of a deterministic approximation for non-Markovian stochastic processes modeling finite populations of individuals who recurrently play symmetric finite games and imitate each other according to payoffs. We show that a…
This paper studies the exponential stability of random matrix products driven by a general (possibly unbounded) state space Markov chain. It is a cornerstone in the analysis of stochastic algorithms in machine learning (e.g. for parameter…
This work revisits the constant stepsize stochastic approximation algorithm for tracking a slowly moving target and obtains a bound for the tracking error that is valid for the entire time axis, using the Alekseev non-linear variation of…
The training of deep neural networks is inherently a nonconvex optimization problem, yet standard approaches such as stochastic gradient descent (SGD) require simultaneous updates to all parameters, often leading to unstable convergence and…
In this paper, we present a unified and general framework for analyzing the batch updating approach to nonlinear, high-dimensional optimization. The framework encompasses all the currently used batch updating approaches, and is applicable…
Motivated by the study of $Q$-learning algorithms in reinforcement learning, we study a class of stochastic approximation procedures based on operators that satisfy monotonicity and quasi-contractivity conditions with respect to an…
Prediction via deterministic continuous-time models will always be subject to model error, for example due to unexplainable phenomena, uncertainties in any data driving the model, or discretisation/resolution issues. In this paper, we build…
Two timescale stochastic approximation (SA) has been widely used in value-based reinforcement learning algorithms. In the policy evaluation setting, it can model the linear and nonlinear temporal difference learning with gradient correction…
We present a probabilistic model for stochastic iterative algorithms with the use case of optimization algorithms in mind. Based on this model, we present PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds for functions that are defined on the trajectory…
We study parameter inference in simulation-based stochastic models where the analytical form of the likelihood is unknown. The main difficulty is that score evaluation as a ratio of noisy Monte Carlo estimators induces bias and instability,…
We study the finite-time convergence of TD learning with linear function approximation under Markovian sampling. Existing proofs for this setting either assume a projection step in the algorithm to simplify the analysis, or require a fairly…
Likelihood-based inference in stochastic non-linear dynamical systems, such as those found in chemical reaction networks and biological clock systems, is inherently complex and has largely been limited to small and unrealistically simple…
Gradient optimization algorithms using epochs, that is those based on stochastic gradient descent without replacement (SGDo), are predominantly used to train machine learning models in practice. However, the mathematical theory of SGDo and…
We report the first observation of non-Markovian stochastic resonance, i.e., noise-assisted amplification of a periodic signal in a system with memory. Our system is an oil-filled optical microcavity which, driven by a continuous wave…
Markov processes with stochastic resetting towards the origin generically converge towards non-equilibrium steady-states. Long dynamical trajectories can be thus analyzed via the large deviations at Level 2.5 for the joint probability of…
In this paper we develop a new approach to nonlinear stochastic partial differential equations with Gaussian noise. Our aim is to provide an abstract framework which is applicable to a large class of SPDEs and includes many important cases…
We undertake a precise study of the asymptotic and non-asymptotic properties of stochastic approximation procedures with Polyak-Ruppert averaging for solving a linear system $\bar{A} \theta = \bar{b}$. When the matrix $\bar{A}$ is Hurwitz,…