Related papers: Stochastic Control Methods for Optimization
We perform a systematic study of optimization problems in the Wasserstein spaces that are analogs of infinite horizon, deterministic control problems. We derive necessary conditions on action minimizing paths and present a sufficient…
Optimal transport is a foundational problem in optimization, that allows to compare probability distributions while taking into account geometric aspects. Its optimal objective value, the Wasserstein distance, provides an important loss…
We consider a generic convex optimization problem associated with regularized empirical risk minimization of linear predictors. The problem structure allows us to reformulate it as a convex-concave saddle point problem. We propose a…
We introduce a stochastic version of the optimal transport problem. We provide an analysis by means of the study of the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, which is set on the set of probability measures. We introduce a new…
This paper deals with a family of stochastic control problems in Hilbert spaces which arises in typical applications (such as boundary control and control of delay equations with delay in the control) and for which is difficult to apply the…
We propose a novel data-driven neural network (NN) optimization framework for solving an optimal stochastic control problem under stochastic constraints. Customized activation functions for the output layers of the NN are applied, which…
In this paper we present a dynamic programing approach to stochastic optimal control problems with dynamic, time-consistent risk constraints. Constrained stochastic optimal control problems, which naturally arise when one has to consider…
We introduce a class of backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) on the Wasserstein space of probability measures. This formulation extends the classical correspondence between BSDEs, stochastic control, and partial differential…
An algorithm for unconstrained non-convex optimization is described, which does not evaluate the objective function and in which minimization is carried out, at each iteration, within a randomly selected subspace. It is shown that this…
In this paper, we investigate an optimal control problem governed by parabolic equations with measure-valued controls over time. We establish the well-posedness of the optimal control problem and derive the first-order optimality condition…
We provide a data-driven framework for optimal control of a continuous-time stochastic dynamical system. The proposed framework relies on the linear operator theory involving linear Perron-Frobenius (P-F) and Koopman operators. Our first…
In this paper, we aim to develop the theory of optimal stochastic control for branching diffusion processes where both the movement and the reproduction of the particles depend on the control. More precisely, we study the problem of…
In this paper, we explore a new class of stochastic control problems characterized by specific control constraints. Specifically, the admissible controls are subject to the ratcheting constraint, meaning they must be non-decreasing over…
We consider a class of finite time horizon nonlinear stochastic optimal control problem, where the control acts additively on the dynamics and the control cost is quadratic. This framework is flexible and has found applications in many…
We consider distributionally robust optimal control of stochastic linear systems under signal temporal logic (STL) chance constraints when the disturbance distribution is unknown. By assuming that the underlying predicate functions are…
This work presents a new Distributionally Robust Optimization approach, using $p$-Wasserstein metrics, to analyze a stochastic program in a general context. The ambiguity set in this approach depends on the decision variable and is…
Simple heuristics often show a remarkable performance in practice for optimization problems. Worst-case analysis often falls short of explaining this performance. Because of this, "beyond worst-case analysis" of algorithms has recently…
Using a recently introduced representation of the second order adjoint state as the solution of a function-valued backward stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE), we calculate the viscosity super- and subdifferential of the value…
Choosing control inputs randomly can result in a reduced expected cost in optimal control problems with stochastic constraints, such as stochastic model predictive control (SMPC). We consider a controller with initial randomization, meaning…
We propose a new approach to studying classical solutions of the Bellman equation and Master equation for mean field type control problems, using a novel form of the "lifting" idea introduced by P.-L. Lions. Rather than studying the usual…