Theoretical Barriers in Bellman-Based Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pinon, Brieuc, Jungers, Raphaël, Delvenne, Jean-Charles
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Pinon, Brieuc
Jungers, Raphaël
Delvenne, Jean-Charles
author_facet Pinon, Brieuc
Jungers, Raphaël
Delvenne, Jean-Charles
contents Reinforcement Learning algorithms designed for high-dimensional spaces often enforce the Bellman equation on a sampled subset of states, relying on generalization to propagate knowledge across the state space. In this paper, we identify and formalize a fundamental limitation of this common approach. Specifically, we construct counterexample problems with a simple structure that this approach fails to exploit. Our findings reveal that such algorithms can neglect critical information about the problems, leading to inefficiencies. Furthermore, we extend this negative result to another approach from the literature: Hindsight Experience Replay learning state-to-state reachability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_11968
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Theoretical Barriers in Bellman-Based Reinforcement Learning
Pinon, Brieuc
Jungers, Raphaël
Delvenne, Jean-Charles
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Reinforcement Learning algorithms designed for high-dimensional spaces often enforce the Bellman equation on a sampled subset of states, relying on generalization to propagate knowledge across the state space. In this paper, we identify and formalize a fundamental limitation of this common approach. Specifically, we construct counterexample problems with a simple structure that this approach fails to exploit. Our findings reveal that such algorithms can neglect critical information about the problems, leading to inefficiencies. Furthermore, we extend this negative result to another approach from the literature: Hindsight Experience Replay learning state-to-state reachability.
title Theoretical Barriers in Bellman-Based Reinforcement Learning
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11968