Instruct: Identify the main and secondary category of Arxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: A Theoretical Connection Between Statistical Physics and Reinforcement
  Learning   Sequential decision making in the presence of uncertainty and stochastic
dynamics gives rise to distributions over state/action trajectories in
reinforcement learning (RL) and optimal control problems. This observation has
led to a variety of connections between RL and inference in probabilistic
graphical models (PGMs). Here we explore a different dimension to this
relationship, examining reinforcement learning using the tools and abstractions
of statistical physics. The central object in the statistical physics
abstraction is the idea of a partition function $\mathcal{Z}$, and here we
construct a partition function from the ensemble of possible trajectories that
an agent might take in a Markov decision process. Although value functions and
$Q$-functions can be derived from this partition function and interpreted via
average energies, the $\mathcal{Z}$-function provides an object with its own
Bellman equation that can form the basis of alternative dynamic programming
approaches. Moreover, when the MDP dynamics are deterministic, the Bellman
equation for $\mathcal{Z}$ is linear, allowing direct solutions that are
unavailable for the nonlinear equations associated with traditional value
functions. The policies learned via these $\mathcal{Z}$-based Bellman updates
are tightly linked to Boltzmann-like policy parameterizations. In addition to
sampling actions proportionally to the exponential of the expected cumulative
reward as Boltzmann policies would, these policies take entropy into account
favoring states from which many outcomes are possible.

31
The categories of this paper are: ao-sci
30
The categories of this paper are: q-alg
32
The categories of this paper are: atom-ph
8
The categories of this paper are: hep-ex
29
The categories of this paper are: funct-an
37
The categories of this paper are: supr-con
0
The categories of this paper are: hep-ph
33
The categories of this paper are: plasm-ph
10
The categories of this paper are: q-bio
11
The categories of this paper are: hep-lat
27
The categories of this paper are: comp-gas
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The categories of this paper are: bayes-an
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The categories of this paper are: nlin
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The categories of this paper are: adap-org
7
The categories of this paper are: hep-th
12
The categories of this paper are: nucl-th