DAC enhances exploration in reinforcement learning with entropy regularization.
problem Improving exploration efficiency in reinforcement learning.
method Sample-aware entropy regularization using replay buffer action distributions.
result DAC significantly outperforms existing algorithms in reinforcement learning tasks.
Paper connects RL and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics for entropy-regularized RL.
problem Obtaining analytical solutions for entropy-regularized RL.
method Mapping RL to non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, applying large deviation theory.
result Derives exact analytical results for optimal policy and dynamics in MDPs.
Entropy regularization improves MFG learning efficiency and stability.
problem Improving Mean Field Game learning efficiency and stability.
method Entropy regularization applied to MFG with learning.
result Entropy regularization yields time-dependent policies and stabilizes convergence.
State entropy regularization improves robustness in reinforcement learning, especially under structured perturbations.
problem Structured and spatially correlated perturbations in reinforcement learning.
method State entropy regularization, compared to policy entropy.
result State entropy regularization provides better robustness to structured and spatially correlated perturbations.
This paper improves reinforcement learning policies in a scalable way.
problem Ensuring monotonic policy improvement in entropy-regularized RL.
method Derives an entropy-aware lower bound and proposes a novel RL algorithm.
result Demonstrates effectiveness in continuous-state tasks using a linear function approximator.
AER dynamically adjusts entropy regularization for better LLM reinforcement learning.
problem Policy entropy collapse in RLVR training limits exploration and reasoning performance.
method Adaptive Entropy Regularization (AER) with difficulty-aware coefficient allocation, initial-anchored target entropy, and dynamic global coefficient adjustment.
result AER consistently outperforms baselines on mathematical reasoning benchmarks, improving both accuracy and exploration.
We introduce Implicit Policy, a general class of expressive policies that can flexibly represent complex action distributions in reinforcement learning, with efficient algorithms to compute entropy regularized policy gradients. We empirically show that, despite its simplicity in implementation, entropy regularization c…
New method accelerates convergence for entropy-regularized reinforcement learning problems.
problem Slow convergence of standard first-order methods for entropy-regularized Markov decision processes.
method Introduce a quadratically convexified primal-dual formulation and a new interpolating metric to accelerate convergence.
result Global convergence and exponential convergence rate for the new method.
Entropy-regularized NPG converges linearly with linear function approximation.
problem Analyzing convergence of entropy-regularized NPG with function approximation.
method Established finite-time convergence analyses with entropy regularization and linear function approximation.
result Entropy-regularized NPG achieves linear convergence up to a function approximation error.
Develops statistical framework for resolving reward function ambiguity in inverse reinforcement learning.
problem Non-uniqueness of reward functions in inverse reinforcement learning.
method Entropy regularization combined with least-squares reconstruction of the reward from the soft Bellman residual.
result Least-squares reward function is unique and consistent with the expert policy.
Study optimal investment strategies with entropy regularization in volatile markets.
problem Optimal portfolio selection under stochastic volatility with constraints.
method Entropy-regularized relaxed controls, dynamic programming, nonlinear PDEs.
result Existence of classical solutions to nonlinear HJB equation for value function.
Entropy regularization improves policy optimization in reinforcement learning.
problem Improving policy optimization in reinforcement learning.
method Entropy regularization is introduced to soften the greedy policy towards a more diverse softmax policy, leading to a continuously parameterized algorithm that interpolates between policy gradient and Q-learning.
result An intermediate algorithm can improve performance in reinforcement learning.
We propose a general framework for entropy-regularized average-reward reinforcement learning in Markov decision processes (MDPs). Our approach is based on extending the linear-programming formulation of policy optimization in MDPs to accommodate convex regularization functions. Our key result is showing that using the …
SymCircuit learns PC structure via entropy-regularized RL, improving inference efficiency and accuracy.
problem Greedy algorithms in PC structure learning lead to suboptimal solutions.
method Entropy-regularized reinforcement learning to train a learned generative policy for PC structure inference.
result SymCircuit learns the optimal policy as a tempered Bayesian posterior, improving inference efficiency and accuracy.
Entropy-regularized NPG methods converge linearly in discounted MDPs.
problem Theoretical limitations of NPG methods in reinforcement learning.
method Entropy regularization in conjunction with NPG methods for discounted MDPs.
result Entropy-regularized NPG methods converge linearly in discounted MDPs.
New RL method nearly optimally learns policies with generative models.
problem Finding optimal policies in reinforcement learning with generative models.
method Mirror descent value iteration with KL divergence and entropy regularization.
result The method is nearly minimax-optimal for small ε-optimal policies. Entropy regularization is an important idea in reinforcement learning, with great success in recent algorithms like Soft Q Network (SQN) and Soft Actor-Critic (SAC1). In this work, we extend this idea into the on-policy realm. We propose the soft policy gradient theorem (SPGT) for on-policy maximum entropy reinforcemen…
Study optimal stopping in random exploration, deriving HJB and designing a reinforcement learning algorithm.
problem Optimal stopping problem in continuous time with random exploration.
method Transformed optimal stopping to optimal control problem, derived HJB equation, designed reinforcement learning algorithm.
result Convergence rate of policy iteration and comparison to classical optimal stopping.
In this work, we study the credit assignment problem in reward augmented maximum likelihood (RAML) learning, and establish a theoretical equivalence between the token-level counterpart of RAML and the entropy regularized reinforcement learning. Inspired by the connection, we propose two sequence prediction algorithms, …
Choquet regularization improves exploration in RL.
problem Improving exploration in reinforcement learning.
method Introducing Choquet regularizers to measure and manage exploration, reformulating RL problems and deriving explicit solutions.
result Explicit optimal distributions and Choquet regularizers for various exploratory samplers.
Generative flow networks use RL to learn probabilistic models efficiently.
problem Training generative models with RL for compositional discrete objects.
method Reformulate GFlowNet training as entropy-regularized RL with specific reward and regularizer.
result Entropy-regularized RL can be competitive with established GFlowNet training methods.
The paper tackles scalarization issues in A2C RL algorithms, proposing methods to avoid gradient overlap and noise.
problem Scalarization issues in A2C RL algorithms leading to gradient overlap and uncontrolled noise.
method Proposes techniques to avoid gradient overlap and noise in A2C RL algorithms.
result Pilot experiments show the proposed method speeds up training in A2C RL algorithms.
Study shows fast rates for inverse reinforcement learning with linear rewards.
problem Entropy-regularized min-max inverse reinforcement learning in finite-horizon MDPs.
method Structural and statistical analysis of Min-Max-IRL with pseudo-self-concordance.
result Both trajectory-level KL divergence and parameter error decay at O(n−1). In this paper, a sparse Markov decision process (MDP) with novel causal sparse Tsallis entropy regularization is proposed.The proposed policy regularization induces a sparse and multi-modal optimal policy distribution of a sparse MDP. The full mathematical analysis of the proposed sparse MDP is provided.We first analyz…
We approach the continuous-time mean-variance (MV) portfolio selection with reinforcement learning (RL). The problem is to achieve the best tradeoff between exploration and exploitation, and is formulated as an entropy-regularized, relaxed stochastic control problem. We prove that the optimal feedback policy for this p…
Recently deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has achieved outstanding success on solving many difficult and large-scale RL problems. However the high sample cost required for effective learning often makes DRL unaffordable in resource-limited applications. With the aim of improving sample efficiency and learning performa…
A new method for learning policies in multiple environments.
problem Learning policies that work in different but related environments.
method Decentralized entropy-regularized policy gradient method.
result The method can learn effective policies in multiple environments.
The paper develops RL methods for optimal switching between multiple states.
problem Optimal switching between multiple states in continuous time.
method Entropy-regularized exploration, HJB equations, policy improvement, value function convergence.
result The RL algorithm converges to optimal policies as temperature parameter vanishes.
Entropy regularization is used to get improved optimization performance in reinforcement learning tasks. A common form of regularization is to maximize policy entropy to avoid premature convergence and lead to more stochastic policies for exploration through action space. However, this does not ensure exploration in th…
Our work proves CSF can recover ground-truth features in RL, improving understanding of feature learning.
problem Understanding the role of representation and mutual information in reinforcement learning.
method Investigates Contrastive Successor Features (CSF) method for identifiable representation learning in reinforcement learning.
result Proves CSF can recover ground-truth features up to a linear transformation.
Improves neural network search in combinatorial spaces of mathematical symbols.
problem Early commitment and initialization bias limit exploration in neural network search.
method Entropy regularization and distribution initialization methods.
result Improves performance, increases sample efficiency, lowers solution complexity.
Unified framework for estimating reward functions in competitive games.
problem Estimating unknown reward functions in competitive games.
method Unified framework with entropy regularization for reward function recovery.
result Strong theoretical guarantees and practical effectiveness demonstrated.
This paper improves Bayesian inference for predictive models with limited data.
problem Effective uncertainty quantification for training predictive models with limited data.
method Entropy-regularized gradient estimators to approximate the Bayesian posterior.
result The method generates diverse samples from the posterior distribution efficiently.
Study on PG learning for LQ MFC problems with common noise, proving convergence and sample complexity.
problem Optimal policy learning in LQ MFC problems with common noise and entropy regularization.
method Comprehensive error analysis of PG algorithms in both model-based and model-free settings.
result Global linear convergence and sample complexity of PG algorithms in model-free setting.
We establish a new connection between value and policy based reinforcement learning (RL) based on a relationship between softmax temporal value consistency and policy optimality under entropy regularization. Specifically, we show that softmax consistent action values correspond to optimal entropy regularized policy pro…
The paper shows how policy regularization acts like an adversary to improve robustness.
problem Improving robustness of learned policies in reinforcement learning.
method Using convex duality, the paper characterizes adversarial reward perturbations and provides generalization guarantees.
result Policy regularization acts as an adversary to improve robustness against worst-case reward perturbations.
Agents trained with deep reinforcement learning algorithms are capable of performing highly complex tasks including locomotion in continuous environments. We investigate transferring the learning acquired in one task to a set of previously unseen tasks. Generalization and overfitting in deep reinforcement learning are …
The paper explores sampling problems and shows minimal exploration is needed.
problem Exploration-exploitation trade-off in sampling.
method Systematic definition of regret, proposal of a simple algorithm.
result Near-optimal regret bounds achieved with minimal exploration.
The paper interprets policy-gradient algorithms using continuation theory.
problem Optimizing nonconvex functions in reinforcement learning.
method Formulates policy optimization as optimization by continuation, interprets policy-gradient algorithms as implicitly optimizing deterministic policies.
result Exploration in policy-gradient algorithms is seen as computing a continuation of the return of the policy.
KL regularization helps RL algorithms by implicitly averaging q-values.
problem Understanding why KL regularization improves RL performance.
method An approximate value iteration scheme, studying KL and entropy regularization.
result Strong performance bound combining linear horizon dependency and averaging effect of estimation errors.
Continuous-time Q-learning theory developed for reinforcement learning.
problem Continuous-time reinforcement learning challenges.
method Entropy-regularized, exploratory diffusion process formulation; first-order approximation of Q-function; martingale conditions.
result Developed a q-learning theory independent of time discretization.
We provide a framework for incorporating robustness -- to perturbations in the transition dynamics which we refer to as model misspecification -- into continuous control Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms. We specifically focus on incorporating robustness into a state-of-the-art continuous control RL algorithm call…
Study optimal stopping for diffusion processes with unknown primitives, applying RL and martingale methods.
problem Optimal stopping for diffusion processes with unknown model primitives.
method Continuous-time reinforcement learning framework, variational inequality formulation, stochastic optimal control, entropy regularizer, semi-analytical optimal Bernoulli distribution, policy improvement theorem, policy iterations.
result Demonstrated high accuracy in learning value functions and characterizing free boundaries for various optimal stopping problems.
Pretraining reinforcement learning methods with demonstrations has been an important concept in the study of reinforcement learning since a large amount of computing power is spent on online simulations with existing reinforcement learning algorithms. Pretraining reinforcement learning remains a significant challenge i…
Large deviations theory applied to policy gradient methods.
problem Understanding convergence of policy gradient methods in reinforcement learning.
method Large deviation rate function and contraction principle from large deviations theory.
result Convergence properties of policy gradient methods can be extended to various policy parametrizations.
LICA learns credit assignment for cooperative agents without explicit formulation.
problem Credit assignment among cooperative agents.
method Centralized critic as hypernetwork, adaptive entropy regularization.
result Significantly outperforms previous methods on benchmarks.
This paper introduces a method to incorporate risk sensitivity in RL using quadratic variation penalties.
problem Risk-sensitive reinforcement learning under entropy regularization.
method Equivalent martingale property and quadratic variation penalty for value process.
result The proposed method improves finite-sample performance in linear-quadratic control problems.
Paper uses SAC and DDPG to optimize cryptocurrency portfolios.
problem Adapting to volatile and nonlinear cryptocurrency markets.
method Reinforcement learning with SAC and DDPG algorithms.
result SAC and DDPG outperform traditional strategies in cryptocurrency markets.