首个实现最优方差依赖后悔界的一次性算法,适配多种无限时域强化学习场景。
Optimal Variance-Dependent Regret Bounds for Infinite-Horizon MDPs
- 设计统一的UCB类算法,同时适用于平均奖励与γ-后悔两种目标。
- 后悔上界为√(SA·Var),在确定性环境可接近常数后悔。
- 揭示先验知识对低阶项影响的根本差距,适合理论研究者参考。
无限时域马尔可夫决策过程(MDP)中的在线强化学习仍远未达到其周期性版本的理论与算法成熟度,许多算法存在高‘预热’成本且无法适应问题实例的复杂性。本文针对两类无限时域目标——经典平均奖励后悔与γ-后悔——提出一个统一的可计算的UCB风格算法,首次实现了最优的方差依赖后悔界。两种情形下的后悔上界均为˜O(√(SA Var) + 低阶项),其中S、A分别为状态与动作空间大小,Var表示累积转移方差。该结果在最坏情况下达到极小化后悔界,同时能自适应更简单的问题实例(如确定性MDP中接近常数后悔)。此外,在已知最优偏差跨度‖h⋆‖sp时,低阶项为‖h⋆‖sp S² A,我们证明其在‖h⋆‖sp和A上均最优;未知先验时,我们证明任何算法低阶项不能小于‖h⋆‖sp² SA,且给出一个无先验算法,其低阶项为‖h⋆‖sp² S³ A,几乎匹配下界。这些结果完整刻画了‖h⋆‖sp在主项与低阶项中的最优依赖关系,并揭示了有无先验知识时性能上限的根本差异。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Online reinforcement learning in infinite-horizon Markov decision processes (MDPs) remains less theoretically and algorithmically developed than its episodic counterpart, with many algorithms suffering from high ``burn-in'' costs and failing to adapt to benign instance-specific complexity. In this work, we address these shortcomings for two infinite-horizon objectives: the classical average-reward regret and the $γ$-regret. We develop a single tractable UCB-style algorithm applicable to both settings, which achieves the first optimal variance-dependent regret guarantees. Our regret bounds in both settings take the form $\tilde{O}( \sqrt{SA\,\text{Var}} + \text{lower-order terms})$, where $S,A$ are the state and action space sizes, and $\text{Var}$ captures cumulative transition variance. This implies minimax-optimal average-reward and $γ$-regret bounds in the worst case but also adapts to easier problem instances, for example yielding nearly constant regret in deterministic MDPs. Furthermore, our algorithm enjoys significantly improved lower-order terms for the average-reward setting. With prior knowledge of the optimal bias span $\Vert h^\star\Vert_\text{sp}$, our algorithm obtains lower-order terms scaling as $\Vert h^\star\Vert_\text{sp} S^2 A$, which we prove is optimal in both $\Vert h^\star\Vert_\text{sp}$ and $A$. Without prior knowledge, we prove that no algorithm can have lower-order terms smaller than $\Vert h^\star \Vert_\text{sp}^2 S A$, and we provide a prior-free algorithm whose lower-order terms scale as $\Vert h^\star\Vert_\text{sp}^2 S^3 A$, nearly matching this lower bound. Taken together, these results completely characterize the optimal dependence on $\Vert h^\star\Vert_\text{sp}$ in both leading and lower-order terms, and reveal a fundamental gap in what is achievable with and without prior knowledge.
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