Foundations of Multivariate Distributional Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Wiltzer, Harley, Farebrother, Jesse, Gretton, Arthur, Rowland, Mark
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Wiltzer, Harley
Farebrother, Jesse
Gretton, Arthur
Rowland, Mark
author_facet Wiltzer, Harley
Farebrother, Jesse
Gretton, Arthur
Rowland, Mark
contents In reinforcement learning (RL), the consideration of multivariate reward signals has led to fundamental advancements in multi-objective decision-making, transfer learning, and representation learning. This work introduces the first oracle-free and computationally-tractable algorithms for provably convergent multivariate distributional dynamic programming and temporal difference learning. Our convergence rates match the familiar rates in the scalar reward setting, and additionally provide new insights into the fidelity of approximate return distribution representations as a function of the reward dimension. Surprisingly, when the reward dimension is larger than $1$, we show that standard analysis of categorical TD learning fails, which we resolve with a novel projection onto the space of mass-$1$ signed measures. Finally, with the aid of our technical results and simulations, we identify tradeoffs between distribution representations that influence the performance of multivariate distributional RL in practice.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_00328
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Foundations of Multivariate Distributional Reinforcement Learning
Wiltzer, Harley
Farebrother, Jesse
Gretton, Arthur
Rowland, Mark
Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
In reinforcement learning (RL), the consideration of multivariate reward signals has led to fundamental advancements in multi-objective decision-making, transfer learning, and representation learning. This work introduces the first oracle-free and computationally-tractable algorithms for provably convergent multivariate distributional dynamic programming and temporal difference learning. Our convergence rates match the familiar rates in the scalar reward setting, and additionally provide new insights into the fidelity of approximate return distribution representations as a function of the reward dimension. Surprisingly, when the reward dimension is larger than $1$, we show that standard analysis of categorical TD learning fails, which we resolve with a novel projection onto the space of mass-$1$ signed measures. Finally, with the aid of our technical results and simulations, we identify tradeoffs between distribution representations that influence the performance of multivariate distributional RL in practice.
title Foundations of Multivariate Distributional Reinforcement Learning
topic Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.00328