Applied Math Colloquium: Haoyang Cao (JHU)
Friday, April 3, 2026 · 12 - 1 PM
Title: Randomized Impulse Control Problem and Reinforcement Learning
Abstract: In this work, we study a randomized optimal impulse control problem.
This framework is particularly suitable for devising reinforcement
learning algorithms with exploration to solve the otherwise
hard-to-explicitly-derive optimal impulse control
policies. We provide a two-fold randomized impulse control framework
and then analyze the associated HJB equation. We discuss its relations
with (randomized) optimal stopping as well as the classical impulse
control problem. We also present an exploratory
reinforcement learning algorithm to learn the randomized impulse
policy. This is a joint work with Prof. Yuchao Dong (Tongji University)
and Zhouhao Yang (Johns Hopkins University).