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arXiv research

A locally-built, LLM-digested index of recent arXiv papers in quant finance, geometry/topology, and statistical ML — keyword search served straight from SQLite on this machine.

168,695 papers · 148 categories

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48 results for state value estimation

A new estimator for state values in reinforcement learning reduces complexity and improves convergence.

problem Estimating state values in reinforcement learning with Markov reward processes.
method Loop estimator exploiting regenerative structure of Markov reward processes.
result Instance-dependent convergence rate of O~(τs/T)\widetilde{O}\left(\sqrt{τ_s/T}\right) for estimating state values.

Estimating the value function for a fixed policy is a fundamental problem in reinforcement learning. Policy evaluation algorithms---to estimate value functions---continue to be developed, to improve convergence rates, improve stability and handle variability, particularly for off-policy learning. To understand the prop…

2018-08-28abs ↗pdf ↗

Despite recent successes in Reinforcement Learning, value-based methods often suffer from high variance hindering performance. In this paper, we illustrate this in a continuous control setting where state of the art methods perform poorly whenever sensor noise is introduced. To overcome this issue, we introduce Recurre…

2019-05-23abs ↗pdf ↗

This work improves imitation learning and goal-conditioned RL by estimating value densities.

problem Effective solutions for imitation and goal-conditioned reinforcement learning require reliably reaching specified states or demonstrations.
method The approach uses recent advances in density estimation to learn value functions efficiently and without hindsight bias.
result The method achieves state-of-the-art demonstration sample-efficiency in imitation learning and is both efficient and bias-free in goal-conditioned reinforcement learning.

Study improves LL^{\infty} estimates and extreme value behavior in stochastic differential games.

problem Analyzing the mean-field limit of diffusive games through master equation.
method Using the Master Equation to approximate state processes and establishing LL^{\infty} estimates for the total error.
result Established NoN o \infty asymptotic behavior of upper order statistics of Nash states, initiating Extreme Value Theory for stochastic differential games.

UA-LQE improves value function learning by selectively erasing uncertain entries in Q-matrix.

problem Improving value function learning in complex reinforcement learning tasks.
method Uncertainty-aware low-rank Q-matrix estimation (UA-LQE) algorithm.
result UA-LQE selectively erases uncertain entries in Q-matrix to improve value function approximation.

Dyna is an architecture for model-based reinforcement learning (RL), where simulated experience from a model is used to update policies or value functions. A key component of Dyna is search-control, the mechanism to generate the state and action from which the agent queries the model, which remains largely unexplored. …

2019-06-18abs ↗pdf ↗

Paper introduces a new value function for state transitions and optimal policy learning.

problem Learning optimal policies from state transitions and actions.
method Develops a forward dynamics model to maximize a novel value function Q(s,s)Q(s, s').
result Demonstrates benefits in value function transfer, redundant action spaces, and off-policy learning.

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.

We introduce "Search with Amortized Value Estimates" (SAVE), an approach for combining model-free Q-learning with model-based Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS). In SAVE, a learned prior over state-action values is used to guide MCTS, which estimates an improved set of state-action values. The new Q-estimates are then used…

2019-12-05abs ↗pdf ↗

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.

QR-MIX models joint state-action values as a distribution to handle randomness in MARL.

problem Randomness in rewards and observations leads to randomness in long-term returns in MARL.
method QR-MIX uses quantile regression and combines it with QMIX and IQN to model joint state-action values as a distribution.
result QR-MIX outperforms QMIX in the StarCraft Multi-Agent Challenge (SMAC) environment.

Improved Shapley Values for tree-based models, more accurate than existing methods.

problem Inaccurate Shapley Values in tree-based models leading to poor explanations.
method Introduced two new estimators exploiting tree structure, derived correct approach for categorical variables.
result More accurate Shapley Values for tree-based models, demonstrated through simulations.

New method estimates optimal Q-values with better accuracy for specific problems.

problem Estimating optimal Q-values in reinforcement learning is difficult and varies by problem instance.
method Local minimax framework and variance-reduced Q-learning.
result Sharp lower bounds on estimation accuracy for Q-learning.

A nonparametric approach for policy learning for POMDPs is proposed. The approach represents distributions over the states, observations, and actions as embeddings in feature spaces, which are reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. Distributions over states given the observations are obtained by applying the kernel Bayes' …

2012-10-16abs ↗pdf ↗

A new method for estimating joint value functions in multi-scene reinforcement learning.

problem High variance in samples for policy gradient computations in multi-scene environments.
method Sparse attention mechanism over multiple value function hypotheses to approximate the true joint value function.
result Significant improvements in reward scores and enhanced navigation efficiency across OpenAI ProcGen environments.

This paper studies optimal approximation factors in misspecified off-policy RL, identifying key factors under various settings.

problem Understanding optimal approximation factors in misspecified off-policy value function estimation.
method Examined various settings including weighted L2L_2-norm, LL_\infty norm, state aliasing, and state coverage.
result Established optimal asymptotic approximation factors for different norms and identified two instance-dependent factors for L2(μ)L_2(μ) norm.

Model-free reinforcement learning methods such as the Proximal Policy Optimization algorithm (PPO) have successfully applied in complex decision-making problems such as Atari games. However, these methods suffer from high variances and high sample complexity. On the other hand, model-based reinforcement learning method…

2018-11-18abs ↗pdf ↗

Perry uses auxiliary data to estimate RL policy values with confidence intervals.

problem Leveraging auxiliary datasets for off-policy evaluation with uncertainty quantification.
method Two methods for constructing valid confidence intervals for OPE with data augmentation.
result Methods consistently produce confidence intervals covering ground truth policy values.

New methods estimate policy value and gradients for deterministic policies from off-policy data.

problem Estimating policy value and gradients for deterministic policies from off-policy data.
method Proposed new doubly robust estimators based on kernelization approaches.
result Demonstrated a rate independent of horizon length for policy value and gradient estimation.

A new imputation method MissARF uses adversarial random forests for fast and accurate missing value imputation.

problem Handling missing values in biostatistical analyses.
method Adversarial Random Forests (ARF) for density estimation and data synthesis.
result MissARF performs comparably to state-of-the-art methods in imputation quality and runtime.

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.

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.

Paper uses VAEAC to estimate Shapley values for complex models with mixed features.

problem Estimating Shapley values for models with dependent mixed features.
method Uses variational autoencoder with arbitrary conditioning (VAEAC) to model feature dependencies.
result VAEAC approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods for various settings.

In traditional reinforcement learning, an agent maximizes the reward collected during its interaction with the environment by approximating the optimal policy through the estimation of value functions. Typically, given a state s and action a, the corresponding value is the expected discounted sum of rewards. The optima…

2018-06-10abs ↗pdf ↗

We introduce the active exploration problem in Markov decision processes (MDPs). Each state of the MDP is characterized by a random value and the learner should gather samples to estimate the mean value of each state as accurately as possible. Similarly to active exploration in multi-armed bandit (MAB), states may have…

2019-02-28abs ↗pdf ↗

The paper tackles reward-relevance in offline RL with sparse decision dynamics.

problem Offline reinforcement learning with sparse decision dynamics and estimation sparsity.
method Reward-filtered least-squares policy evaluation using thresholded lasso.
result The method provides theoretical guarantees with sample complexity dependent on sparse component size.

A new metric detects non-Markovian states in partially observable environments.

problem Learning state representations in partially observable environments.
method Introducing the λλ-discrepancy metric to detect non-Markovian states.
result The λλ-discrepancy is zero for Markov processes and non-zero for partially observable environments.

We describe the Customer LifeTime Value (CLTV) prediction system deployed at ASOS.com, a global online fashion retailer. CLTV prediction is an important problem in e-commerce where an accurate estimate of future value allows retailers to effectively allocate marketing spend, identify and nurture high value customers an…

2017-03-07abs ↗pdf ↗

Develops hierarchical reinforcement learning value function approximators.

problem Estimating long-term returns in reinforcement learning with multiple goals.
method Introduces hierarchical universal value function approximators (H-UVFAs) using the options framework.
result Demonstrates generalization and improved performance of H-UVFAs over UVFAs.

Particle MCMC is a class of algorithms that can be used to analyse state-space models. They use MCMC moves to update the parameters of the models, and particle filters to propose values for the path of the state-space model. Currently the default is to use random walk Metropolis to update the parameter values. We show …

2014-02-04abs ↗pdf ↗

EASE estimator improves probabilistic value estimation efficiency.

problem Efficiently estimating probabilistic values like Shapley and semivalues.
method Developed an Efficiency-Aware Surrogate-adjusted Estimator (EASE) that minimizes first-order mean squared error.
result EASE consistently outperforms existing estimators for various probabilistic values.

Study on future-dependent value functions for off-policy evaluation in complex environments.

problem Exponential dependence on horizon in off-policy evaluation for complex observations.
method Developed novel coverage assumptions for POMDPs to achieve polynomial bounds.
result Achieved polynomial bounds on previously exponential quantities, improving off-policy evaluation.

NDDV estimates data point value from a single stochastic trajectory.

problem Estimating marginal contributions of data points over stochastic training paths.
method Introduces Neural Dynamic Data Valuation (NDDV) using stochastic state and adjoint equations.
result NDDV provides a one-run, trajectory-conditioned estimator of data point value.