English

Entropy Regularization under Bayesian Drift Uncertainty

Optimization and Control 2026-04-13 v2 Portfolio Management

Abstract

We study entropy-regularized mean-variance portfolio optimization under Bayesian drift uncertainty. Gaussian policies remain optimal under partial information, the value function is quadratic in wealth, and belief-dependent coefficients admit closed-form solutions. The mean control is identical to deterministic Bayesian Markowitz feedback; entropy regularization affects only the policy variance. Additionally, this variance does not affect information gain, and instead provides belief-dependent robustness. Notably, optimal policy variance increases with posterior conviction mt|m_t|, forcing greater action randomization when mean position is most aggressive.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.16862,
  title  = {Entropy Regularization under Bayesian Drift Uncertainty},
  author = {Andy Au},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16862},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

22 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:42:05.109Z