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Actor-Critic RL algorithms achieve optimal sample complexity for MDPs

Two new arXiv papers explore advancements in actor-critic reinforcement learning algorithms. The first paper, though later withdrawn, proposed an optimal sample complexity of O(ε−2) for single-timescale actor-critic methods by using a sample buffer and momentum. The second paper introduces a novel optimistic actor-critic algorithm for low-rank MDPs that relies solely on policy evaluation, achieving improved sample complexity without computationally expensive oracles. AI

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IMPACT These papers advance theoretical understanding of reinforcement learning, potentially leading to more efficient training of agents in complex environments.

RANK_REASON Two arXiv papers present theoretical advancements in reinforcement learning algorithms.

Read on arXiv cs.LG →

COVERAGE [2]

  1. arXiv cs.LG TIER_1 · Navdeep Kumar, Tehila Dahan, Lior Cohen, Ananyabrata Barua, Giorgia Ramponi, Kfir Yehuda Levy, Shie Mannor ·

    Optimal Sample Complexity for Single Time-Scale Actor-Critic with Momentum

    arXiv:2602.01505v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: We establish an optimal sample complexity of $O(\epsilon^{-2})$ for obtaining an $\epsilon$-optimal global policy using a single-timescale actor-critic (AC) algorithm in infinite-horizon discounted Markov decision processes (MDP…

  2. arXiv cs.LG TIER_1 · Ruiquan Huang, Donghao Li, Yingbin Liang, Jing Yang ·

    Breaking the Computational Barrier: Provably Efficient Actor-Critic for Low-Rank MDPs

    arXiv:2605.01242v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) is a fundamental framework for sequential decision-making, in which an agent learns an optimal policy through interactions with an unknown environment. In settings with function approximation, many existi…