Markov Processes And Controlled Markov Chains

The general theory of stochastic processes and the more specialized theory of Markov processes evolved enormously in the second half of the last century. In parallel, the theory of controlled Markov chains (or Markov decision processes) was being pioneered by control engineers and operations researchers. Researchers in Markov processes and controlled Markov chains have been, for a long time, aware of the synergies between these two subject areas. However, this may be the first volume dedicated to highlighting these synergies and, almost certainly, it is the first volume that emphasizes the contributions of the vibrant and growing Chinese school of probability. The chapters that appear in this book reflect both the maturity and the vitality of modern day Markov processes and controlled Markov chains. They also will provide an opportunity to trace the connections that have emerged between the work done by members of the Chinese school of probability and the work done by the European, US, Central and South American and Asian scholars.

Stochastic control is a very active area of research. This monograph, written by two leading authorities in the field, has been updated to reflect the latest developments. It covers effective numerical methods for stochastic control problems in continuous time on two levels, that of practice and that of mathematical development. It is broadly accessible for graduate students and researchers.

This book is an introduction to optimal stochastic control for continuous time Markov processes and the theory of viscosity solutions. It covers dynamic programming for deterministic optimal control problems, as well as to the corresponding theory of viscosity solutions. New chapters in this second edition introduce the role of stochastic optimal control in portfolio optimization and in pricing derivatives in incomplete markets and two-controller, zero-sum differential games.

This book concerns continuous-time controlled Markov chains, also known as continuous-time Markov decision processes. They form a class of stochastic control problems in which a single decision-maker wishes to optimize a given objective function. This book is also concerned with Markov games, where two decision-makers (or players) try to optimize their own objective function. Both decision-making processes appear in a large number of applications in economics, operations research, engineering, and computer science, among other areas. An extensive, self-contained, up-to-date analysis of basic optimality criteria (such as discounted and average reward), and advanced optimality criteria (e.g., bias, overtaking, sensitive discount, and Blackwell optimality) is presented. A particular emphasis is made on the application of the results herein: algorithmic and computational issues are discussed, and applications to population models and epidemic processes are shown. This book is addressed to students and researchers in the fields of stochastic control and stochastic games. Moreover, it could be of interest also to undergraduate and beginning graduate students because the reader is not supposed to have a high mathematical background: a working knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, probability, and continuous-time Markov chains should suffice to understand the contents of the book. Contents:IntroductionControlled Markov ChainsBasic Optimality CriteriaPolicy Iteration and Approximation TheoremsOvertaking, Bias, and Variance OptimalitySensitive Discount OptimalityBlackwell OptimalityConstrained Controlled Markov ChainsApplicationsZero-Sum Markov GamesBias and Overtaking Equilibria for Markov Games Readership: Graduate students and researchers in the fields of stochastic control and stochastic analysis. Keywords:Markov Decision Processes;Continuous-Time Controlled Markov Chains;Stochastic Dynamic Programming;Stochastic GamesKey Features:This book presents a reader-friendly, extensive, self-contained, and up-to-date analysis of advanced optimality criteria for continuous-time controlled Markov chains and Markov games. Most of the material herein is quite recent (it has been published in high-impact journals during the last five years) and it appears in book form for the first timeThis book introduces approximation theorems which, in particular, allow the reader to obtain numerical approximations of the solution to several control problems of practical interest. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that such computational issues are studied for denumerable state continuous-time controlled Markov chains. Hence, the book has an adequate balance between, on the one hand, theoretical results and, on the other hand, applications and computational issuesThe books that analyze continuous-time controlled Markov chains usually restrict themselves to the case of bounded transition and reward rates, which can be reduced to discrete-time models by using the uniformization technique. In our case, however, the transition and the reward rates might be unbounded, and so the uniformization technique cannot be used. By the way, let us mention that in models of practical interest the transition and the reward rates are, typically, unboundedReviews:“The book contains a large number of recent research results on CMCs and Markov games and puts them in perspective. It is written in a very conscious manner, contains detailed proofs of all main results, as well as extensive bibliographic remarks. The book is a very valuable piece of work for researchers on continuous-time CMCs and Markov games.”Zentralblatt MATH

"Controlled Markov Chains, Graphs & Hamiltonicity" summarizes a line of research that maps certain classical problems of discrete mathematics--such as the Hamiltonian cycle and the Traveling Salesman problems--into convex domains where continuum analysis can be carried out. (Mathematics)

This book presents the first part of a planned two-volume series devoted to a systematic exposition of some recent developments in the theory of discrete-time Markov control processes (MCPs). Interest is mainly confined to MCPs with Borel state and control (or action) spaces, and possibly unbounded costs and noncompact control constraint sets. MCPs are a class of stochastic control problems, also known as Markov decision processes, controlled Markov processes, or stochastic dynamic pro grams; sometimes, particularly when the state space is a countable set, they are also called Markov decision (or controlled Markov) chains. Regardless of the name used, MCPs appear in many fields, for example, engineering, economics, operations research, statistics, renewable and nonrenewable re source management, (control of) epidemics, etc. However, most of the lit erature (say, at least 90%) is concentrated on MCPs for which (a) the state space is a countable set, and/or (b) the costs-per-stage are bounded, and/or (c) the control constraint sets are compact. But curiously enough, the most widely used control model in engineering and economics--namely the LQ (Linear system/Quadratic cost) model-satisfies none of these conditions. Moreover, when dealing with "partially observable" systems) a standard approach is to transform them into equivalent "completely observable" sys tems in a larger state space (in fact, a space of probability measures), which is uncountable even if the original state process is finite-valued.