New method corrects least-squares temporal difference for better lambda-return estimation.
problem Improving lambda-return estimation in reinforcement learning.
method Uncorrected least-squares temporal difference with a correction method.
result Enhanced accuracy in temporal difference learning.
Quantile TD learning outperforms classical TD learning for value estimation.
problem Temporal-difference learning in reinforcement learning.
method Quantile Temporal-Difference Learning (QTD) for policy evaluation.
result QTD offers superior performance to classical TD learning, even in tabular settings.
Temporal difference learning explained through gradient splitting, improving convergence times.
problem Learning value functions in Markov Decision Processes with linear approximations.
method Interpreting TD learning as gradient splitting and applying convergence proofs from gradient descent.
result Improved convergence times for TD learning, especially with a minor variation.
Proposes a method to enhance exploration in RL using temporal difference uncertainties.
problem Challenges in estimating uncertainty in non-tabular reinforcement learning settings.
method Estimates uncertainty over value function using temporal difference errors and incorporates it as an intrinsic reward.
result Demonstrates improved exploration in various tasks, including Deep Sea and Atari 2600 environments.
Proposes Deep LTMLE for estimating dynamic treatment effects in longitudinal studies.
problem Estimating counterfactual mean outcomes under dynamic treatment policies in longitudinal settings.
method Uses a transformer architecture with temporal-difference learning for initial estimation, followed by TMLE correction and statistical inference.
result Demonstrates superior performance in complex, long-term scenarios compared to existing methods.
TD learning reduces prediction error in Markov chain problems.
problem Estimating value functions in Markov chains with temporal inconsistency.
method Temporal difference learning minimizes temporal inconsistency between successive estimates.
result TD learning can significantly reduce mean-squared error in value estimates.
Enhances reinforcement learning uncertainty estimation with a generalized Gaussian error model.
problem Inaccurate error representations and compromised uncertainty estimation in conventional uncertainty-aware TD learning.
method Introduces a novel framework for generalized Gaussian error modeling in deep reinforcement learning, incorporating higher-order moments, particularly kurtosis, to improve uncertainty estimation and mitigation.
result Significant performance gains in policy gradient algorithms with the proposed framework.
Multi-step temporal difference (TD) learning is an important approach in reinforcement learning, as it unifies one-step TD learning with Monte Carlo methods in a way where intermediate algorithms can outperform either extreme. They address a bias-variance trade off between reliance on current estimates, which could be …
Paper improves confidence intervals for LSA with multiplier bootstrap.
problem Improving confidence intervals for parameter estimation in LSA.
method Berry-Esseen bound for multivariate normal approximation and multiplier bootstrap.
result Valid confidence intervals for parameter estimation in LSA.
Temporal difference learning (TD) is a simple iterative algorithm used to estimate the value function corresponding to a given policy in a Markov decision process. Although TD is one of the most widely used algorithms in reinforcement learning, its theoretical analysis has proved challenging and few guarantees on its s…
Improved TD learning reduces batch sampling error.
problem TD learning can be inaccurate in batch settings due to action weighting.
method Introduced PSEC-TD(0) to correct action weighting using importance sampling.
result PSEC-TD(0) produces more accurate value function estimates.
New actor-critic method reduces sample complexity for reinforcement learning.
problem Improving sample complexity for actor-critic algorithms in reinforcement learning.
method Integrates Monte Carlo rollouts into policy search steps for better control over bias.
result Established sample complexity for actor-critic algorithms with policy gradient.
New statistical methods improve TD learning for policy evaluation.
problem Improving statistical inference for reinforcement learning.
method Polyak-Ruppert averaging, refined high-dimensional Berry-Esseen bounds, online plug-in estimator, asymptotic covariance matrix.
result Guaranteed finite-sample coverage of confidence regions and simultaneous confidence intervals.
Novel bounds improve TD learning consistency in RL.
problem Analyzing Temporal Difference learning's performance.
method High-dimensional concentration inequalities and Berry-Esseen bounds for Markov chain induced martingales.
result Sharp high-probability consistency guarantee for TD learning, matching asymptotic variance up to logarithmic factors.
In this paper, we provide a unified analysis of temporal difference learning algorithms with linear function approximators by exploiting their connections to Markov jump linear systems (MJLS). We tailor the MJLS theory developed in the control community to characterize the exact behaviors of the first and second order …
A new estimator combines bootstrapping and rollout methods in RL.
problem Combining strengths of bootstrapping and rollout methods in RL.
method Subgraph Bellman operators and fixed point solving.
result Upper bound on error approaches optimal TD variance with additional term.
Paper analyzes statistical efficiency of TD learning in Hilbert spaces with Freedman's inequality.
problem Statistical efficiency of distributional TD learning in Hilbert spaces.
method Non-parametric distributional TD (NTD) and variance-reduced variants of NTD and CTD.
result Sharp statistical rates achieved through novel Freedman's inequality in Hilbert spaces.
New algorithms improve distributional TD learning with linear approximations.
problem Estimating return distributions in reinforcement learning.
method Fine-grained analysis of linear-categorical Bellman equation, variance reduction techniques.
result Tight sample complexity bounds for distributional TD learning with linear approximations.
New algorithms for collaborative reinforcement learning with limited communication.
problem Efficiently learning value functions in multi-agent systems with strict information constraints.
method Distributed gradient-based temporal difference algorithms with consensus schemes.
result Parameter estimates converge to ODEs with defined invariant sets under general assumptions.
Temporal-difference and Q-learning learn feature representations that converge to optimal ones.
problem Understanding how feature representations evolve in temporal-difference and Q-learning with neural networks.
method Mean-field theory applied to overparameterized two-layer neural networks.
result The feature representation converges to the optimal one, generalizing previous results.
Decentralized TD learning converges linearly with linear function approximation.
problem Policy evaluation in fully decentralized multi-agent reinforcement learning.
method Temporal-difference learning with linear function approximation, analyzing i.i.d. and Markovian samples.
result Local estimates converge linearly to the optimum under both i.i.d. and Markovian samples.
Study uses online bootstrap for RL inference, showing effectiveness.
problem Statistical inference for RL parameters in online settings.
method Online bootstrap method applied to TD and GTD algorithms in RL.
result Method is distributionally consistent for policy evaluation inference.
New methods improve temporal difference learning for policy evaluation in Markov decision processes.
problem Improving temporal difference learning for policy evaluation in Markov decision processes.
method Introduced variance-reduced forms of stochastic approximation to achieve non-asymptotic, instance-dependent optimality.
result Temporal difference learning is strictly suboptimal, but variance-reduced forms achieve optimality up to logarithmic factors.
We introduce a novel Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithm called Deep Quality-Value (DQV) Learning. DQV uses temporal-difference learning to train a Value neural network and uses this network for training a second Quality-value network that learns to estimate state-action values. We first test DQV's update rules…
Quantile Temporal-Difference learning proved convergent with proof.
problem Lack of theoretical understanding of QTD despite empirical success.
method Proof of convergence using stochastic approximation and non-smooth analysis.
result QTD converges to fixed points with probability 1.
Paper introduces DTAE to optimize RL algorithms, balancing exploration and exploitation.
problem Balancing exploration and exploitation in reinforcement learning.
method Soft policy optimization with entropy and dual-track advantage estimator (DTAE).
result DTAE accelerates RL algorithm convergence and improves performance.
Reinforcement learning (RL) has been successfully used to solve many continuous control tasks. Despite its impressive results however, fundamental questions regarding the sample complexity of RL on continuous problems remain open. We study the performance of RL in this setting by considering the behavior of the Least-S…
A novel approach uses an ensemble of Gaussian processes for robust and adaptive reinforcement learning.
problem Adaptive reinforcement learning in large or continuous state spaces.
method Online scalable (OS) approach with a weighted ensemble of Gaussian processes.
result The ensemble approach improves performance in adversarial settings.
Q-Learning overestimation bias influenced by learning rate, discount factor, and reward signal.
problem Overestimation bias in Q-Learning algorithm.
method Investigated the influence of learning rate, discount factor, and reward signal on Q-Learning's overestimation bias. Tuned parameters and used an exponential moving average of reward signal.
result Q-Learning can achieve more accurate value estimates by tuning parameters and using an exponential moving average of reward signal.
We consider the core reinforcement-learning problem of on-policy value function approximation from a batch of trajectory data, and focus on various issues of Temporal Difference (TD) learning and Monte Carlo (MC) policy evaluation. The two methods are known to achieve complementary bias-variance trade-off properties, w…
Paper presents an efficient exploration method for reinforcement learning.
problem Efficient exploration in reinforcement learning with uncertainty quantification.
method Parameterized Indexed Value Function (PIV) using index sampling.
result Proves the regret bound for learning PIV in a tabular setting and proposes PINs for computational learning.
Kernel-based methods improve policy evaluation in MRP models.
problem Estimating value functions in infinite-horizon discounted MRP models.
method Kernel-based temporal difference methods using reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.
result Optimal error bounds derived for the kernel-based LSTD estimate.
TD-Flow improves long-term predictions in agent learning.
problem Cumulative errors in step-by-step inference of future states.
method Leverages flow-matching techniques and a novel Bellman equation to learn accurate geometric horizon models.
result Significantly reduces errors at long horizons compared to prior methods.
A new metric detects non-Markovian states in partially observable environments.
problem Learning state representations in partially observable environments.
method Introducing the λ-discrepancy metric to detect non-Markovian states. result The λ-discrepancy is zero for Markov processes and non-zero for partially observable environments. Study non-parametric value function estimation from a single path.
problem Estimating value function from a single trajectory in Markov reward processes.
method Kernel-based multi-step temporal difference (TD) estimates, including K-step look-ahead TD and TD(λ). result Non-asymptotic guarantees for TD estimates, capturing interactions between mixing time and model mis-specification.
Temporal difference learning and Residual Gradient methods are the most widely used temporal difference based learning algorithms; however, it has been shown that none of their objective functions is optimal w.r.t approximating the true value function V. Two novel algorithms are proposed to approximate the true value…
A new RL method improves performance on Atari games without complex techniques.
problem Improving reinforcement learning performance on Atari games.
method Adding scaled log-policy to immediate reward in DQN.
result The modified DQN outperforms Rainbow on Atari games.
In this analytical study we derive the optimal unbiased value estimator (MVU) and compare its statistical risk to three well known value estimators: Temporal Difference learning (TD), Monte Carlo estimation (MC) and Least-Squares Temporal Difference Learning (LSTD). We demonstrate that LSTD is equivalent to the MVU if …
Paper improves TD learning algorithm bounds with linear approx.
problem Sharp bounds for TD method performance in MDPs.
method Polyak-Ruppert averaging, universal step size, refined error bounds, stability of random matrices.
result Near-optimal variance and bias terms achieved.
Paper introduces a new reinforcement learning method with improved performance.
problem Designing and analyzing efficient reinforcement learning algorithms.
method Proximal gradient temporal difference learning (GTD) with accelerated algorithm GTD2-MP.
result GTD algorithms have linear complexity and improved convergence rate.
New method adapts to unknown mixing time in stochastic optimization.
problem Optimizing with Markovian data where mixing time is unknown.
method Combines MLMC gradient estimation with adaptive learning.
result Achieves optimal convergence rate for convex problems.
Study on distributional TD learning with linear approximations for better return estimation.
problem Estimating the return distribution of a policy in reinforcement learning.
method Finite-sample analysis of distributional TD learning with linear function approximation, using the linear-categorical Bellman equation and exponential stability arguments for products of random matrices.
result Sample complexity of linear distributional TD learning matches that of classic linear TD learning, indicating similar difficulty in estimating return distribution versus its expectation.
A new correction term improves sample efficiency in deep reinforcement learning.
problem Momentum accumulation in TD learning leads to doubly stale gradients.
method Proposed a correction term to address the issue of doubly stale gradients.
result Improves sample efficiency in policy evaluation.
New method predicts RUL and failure modes from partial data.
problem Predicting RUL and failure modes from incomplete data.
method Formulated as vector General Value Function (GVF) prediction on an absorbing degradation process, using TD(n,λ) for estimation. result TD improves RUL and failure-mode prediction compared to Monte Carlo methods, especially under scarce complete labels.
Accelerates TD learning for long-horizon reinforcement learning problems.
problem Slow convergence of conventional TD learning in long-horizon tasks.
method Introduces PID Accelerated Temporal Difference (PID TD) learning algorithms.
result Accelerates convergence of TD learning compared to conventional methods.
This paper challenges the conventional wisdom about temporal difference learning's superiority in stitching experience.
problem The effectiveness of temporal difference learning in stitching experience across different reinforcement learning methods.
method Empirical study comparing Monte Carlo and temporal difference learning methods in stitching experience.
result Monte Carlo methods can also achieve experience stitching, challenging the conventional wisdom.
In classical Q-learning, the objective is to maximize the sum of discounted rewards through iteratively using the Bellman equation as an update, in an attempt to estimate the action value function of the optimal policy. Conventionally, the loss function is defined as the temporal difference between the action value and…
Improved TD learning with neural nets reduces sample complexity and overparameterization.
problem Temporal difference learning with neural networks in large state spaces.
method Projection-free and max-norm regularized Neural TD learning, with Lyapunov drift analysis.
result Max-norm regularization significantly improves TD learning's sample complexity and overparameterization.