arXiv research

New method learns better branching policies for MILP problems.

Combinatorial optimization problems are typically tackled by the branch-and-bound paradigm. We propose a new graph convolutional neural network model for learning branch-and-bound variable selection policies, which leverages the natural variable-constraint bipartite graph representation of mixed-integer linear programs…

VLBM learns MDP transitions from limited data, improving OPE performance.

Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) algorithms perform simulation-based search to improve policies online. During search, the simulation policy is adapted to explore the most promising lines of play. MCTS has been used by state-of-the-art programs for many problems, however a disadvantage to MCTS is that it estimates the va…

The paper proposes an interpretable off-policy learning algorithm for medical treatments.

Paper proposes BMPO to optimize policies using bidirectional models.

We propose a hybrid algorithmic strategy for complex stochastic optimization problems, which combines the use of scenario trees from multistage stochastic programming with machine learning techniques for learning a policy in the form of a statistical model, in the context of constrained vector-valued decisions. Such a …

Designing effective model-based reinforcement learning algorithms is difficult because the ease of data generation must be weighed against the bias of model-generated data. In this paper, we study the role of model usage in policy optimization both theoretically and empirically. We first formulate and analyze a model-b…

POETS optimizes LLMs by combining policy ensembles and KL regularization.

This paper proposes an embedding-based neural network for more accurate investment return prediction.

A contraction analysis improves model-based RL's error recovery.

This paper presents a novel nonmyopic adaptive Gaussian process planning (GPP) framework endowed with a general class of Lipschitz continuous reward functions that can unify some active learning/sensing and Bayesian optimization criteria and offer practitioners some flexibility to specify their desired choices for defi…

Study on moduli spaces of branched projective structures on surfaces.

We define a laminar branched surface to be a branched surface satisfying the following conditions: (1) Its horizontal boundary is incompressible; (2) there is no monogon; (3) there is no Reeb component; (4) there is no sink disk (after eliminating trivial bubbles in the branched surface). The first three conditions are…

New criterion for branched covers between 2-spheres.

Given a branched covering of degree d between closed surfaces, it determines a collection of partitions of d, the branch data. In this work we show that any branch data are realized by an indecomposable primitive branched covering on a connected close surface N with Euler's characteristic less than or equal to 0. This …

Transformer learns to search through reinforcement learning, mimicking DFS.

Uniformly branching trees are equivalent to certain metric spaces.

The paper studies which branched covers can be lifted to braided embeddings.

We consider 3-dimensional pseudo-manifolds M with a given set of marked point V such that M-V is the interior of a compact 3-manifold with boundary. An ideal triangulation T of (M, V ) has V as its set of vertices. A branching (T, b) enhances T to a Delta-complex. Branched triangulations of (M, V ) are considered up to…

The paper details folding of branched covers of the 3-sphere over knots.

In this work we characterize branch data of branched coverings of even degree over the projective plane which are realizable by indecomposable branched coverings.

Course on knots using branched coverings.

A branched covering surface-knot is a surface-knot in the form of a branched covering over an oriented surface-knot $F$, where we include the case when the covering has no branch points. A branched covering surface-knot is presented by a graph called a chart on a surface diagram of $F$. We can simplify a branched cover…

Techniques for constructing codimension 2 embeddings and immersions of the 2 and 3-fold branched covers of the 3 and 4-dimensional spheres are presented. These covers are in braided form, and it is in this sense that they are folded. More precisely the composition of the embedding (or immersion) and the canonical proje…

Formula compares metrics on branched coverings of line bundles.

A branched covering surface-knot is a surface-knot in the form of a branched covering over a surface-knot. For a branched covering surface-knot, we have a numerical invariant called the simplifying number. We show that branched covering surface-knots with degree three have the simplifying numbers less than three.

Proofs for decomposing branched affine surfaces into triangles and cylinders.

New examples show transverse knots are determined by their branched covers.

We establish a calculus for branched spines of 3-manifolds by means of branched Matveev-Piergallini moves and branched bubble-moves. We briefly indicate some of its possible applications in the study and definition of State-Sum Quantum Invariants.

Quantized Coulomb branches linked to skein algebras.

Characterizes groups of branched twist-spun knots.

We prove that if S is a closed compact surface of negative Euler characteristic, and if R is a quasi-Fuchsian representation in PSL(2,C), then the deformation space M(k,R) of branched projective structures on S with total branching order k and holonomy R is connected, as soon as k>0. Equivalently, two branched projecti…

We provide criteria ensuring that a tunnel number one knot $K$ is not determined by its double branched cover, in the sense that the double branched cover is also the double branched cover of a knot $K'$ not equivalent to $K$.

Branched covers between Riemann surfaces are associated with certain combinatorial data, and Hurwitz existence problem asks whether given data satisfying those combinatorial constraints can be realized by some branched cover. We connect recent development in spherical conic metrics to this old problem, and give a new m…

Authors prove a contact structure result using branched covers and overtwisted disks.

For any alternating knot, it is known that the double branched cover of the $3$-sphere branched over the knot is an $L$-space. We show that the three-fold cyclic branched cover is also an $L$-space for any genus one alternating knot.

We introduce and analyze the characteristic foliation induced by a contact structure on a branched surface, in particular a branched standard spine of a 3-manifold. We extend to (fairly general) singular foliations of branched surfaces the local existence and uniqueness results which hold for genuine surfaces. Moreover…

Paper finds new realizable data for maps with three branch points.

The image of the branch set of a PL branched cover between PL $n$-manifolds is a simplicial $(n-2)$-complex. We demonstrate that the reverse implication also holds: an open and discrete map $f \colon \mathbb{S}^n \to \mathbb{S}^n$ with the image of the branch set contained in a simplicial $(n-2)$-complex is equivalent …

We define sink marks for branched complexes and find conditions for them to determine a branched surface structure. These will be used to construct branched surfaces in knot and tangle complements. We will extend Delman's theorem and prove that a Montesinos knot $K$ of length at least 3 has a persistently laminar branc…

The paper explores rational functions with 3 branching points on the Riemann sphere.

In this paper we study the homeomorphisms of the disk that are liftable with respect to a simple branched covering. Since any such homeomorphism maps the branch set of the covering onto itself and liftability is invariant up to isotopy fixing the branch set, we are dealing in fact with liftable braids. We prove that th…

Veering branched surfaces help construct geodesic flows on curved surfaces.

Random branched covers of groups are homotopy equivalent to geometrically small cancellation complexes.

The study investigates how branch points affect the shape and mechanics of hyperbolic surfaces.

Taut foliations map leaves to branched 2-sphere covers.

Classifies branched Willmore spheres using conformal Gauss maps.