uniINF: Best-of-Both-Worlds Algorithm for Parameter-Free Heavy-Tailed MABs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Yu, Huang, Jiatai, Dai, Yan, Huang, Longbo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Chen, Yu
Huang, Jiatai
Dai, Yan
Huang, Longbo
author_facet Chen, Yu
Huang, Jiatai
Dai, Yan
Huang, Longbo
contents In this paper, we present a novel algorithm, uniINF, for the Heavy-Tailed Multi-Armed Bandits (HTMAB) problem, demonstrating robustness and adaptability in both stochastic and adversarial environments. Unlike the stochastic MAB setting where loss distributions are stationary with time, our study extends to the adversarial setup, where losses are generated from heavy-tailed distributions that depend on both arms and time. Our novel algorithm `uniINF` enjoys the so-called Best-of-Both-Worlds (BoBW) property, performing optimally in both stochastic and adversarial environments without knowing the exact environment type. Moreover, our algorithm also possesses a Parameter-Free feature, i.e., it operates without the need of knowing the heavy-tail parameters $(σ, α)$ a-priori. To be precise, uniINF ensures nearly-optimal regret in both stochastic and adversarial environments, matching the corresponding lower bounds when $(σ, α)$ is known (up to logarithmic factors). To our knowledge, uniINF is the first parameter-free algorithm to achieve the BoBW property for the heavy-tailed MAB problem. Technically, we develop innovative techniques to achieve BoBW guarantees for Parameter-Free HTMABs, including a refined analysis for the dynamics of log-barrier, an auto-balancing learning rate scheduling scheme, an adaptive skipping-clipping loss tuning technique, and a stopping-time analysis for logarithmic regret.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_03284
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle uniINF: Best-of-Both-Worlds Algorithm for Parameter-Free Heavy-Tailed MABs
Chen, Yu
Huang, Jiatai
Dai, Yan
Huang, Longbo
Machine Learning
In this paper, we present a novel algorithm, uniINF, for the Heavy-Tailed Multi-Armed Bandits (HTMAB) problem, demonstrating robustness and adaptability in both stochastic and adversarial environments. Unlike the stochastic MAB setting where loss distributions are stationary with time, our study extends to the adversarial setup, where losses are generated from heavy-tailed distributions that depend on both arms and time. Our novel algorithm `uniINF` enjoys the so-called Best-of-Both-Worlds (BoBW) property, performing optimally in both stochastic and adversarial environments without knowing the exact environment type. Moreover, our algorithm also possesses a Parameter-Free feature, i.e., it operates without the need of knowing the heavy-tail parameters $(σ, α)$ a-priori. To be precise, uniINF ensures nearly-optimal regret in both stochastic and adversarial environments, matching the corresponding lower bounds when $(σ, α)$ is known (up to logarithmic factors). To our knowledge, uniINF is the first parameter-free algorithm to achieve the BoBW property for the heavy-tailed MAB problem. Technically, we develop innovative techniques to achieve BoBW guarantees for Parameter-Free HTMABs, including a refined analysis for the dynamics of log-barrier, an auto-balancing learning rate scheduling scheme, an adaptive skipping-clipping loss tuning technique, and a stopping-time analysis for logarithmic regret.
title uniINF: Best-of-Both-Worlds Algorithm for Parameter-Free Heavy-Tailed MABs
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.03284