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Abstract - Convex Markov Games and Beyond: New Proof of Existence, Characterization and Learning Algorithms for Nash Equilibria
Convex Markov Games (cMGs) were recently introduced as a broad class of multi-agent learning problems that generalize Markov games to settings where strategic agents optimize general utilities beyond additive rewards. While cMGs expand the modeling frontier, their theoretical foundations, particularly the structure of Nash equilibria (NE) and guarantees for learning algorithms, are not yet well understood. In this work, we address these gaps for an extension of cMGs, which we term General Utility Markov Games (GUMGs), capturing new applications requiring coupling between agents' occupancy measures. We prove that in GUMGs, Nash equilibria coincide with the fixed points of projected pseudo-gradient dynamics (i.e., first-order stationary points), enabled by a novel agent-wise gradient domination property. This insight also yields a simple proof of NE existence using Brouwer's fixed-point theorem. We further show the existence of Markov perfect equilibria. Building on this characterization, we establish a policy gradient theorem for GUMGs and design a model-free policy gradient algorithm. For potential GUMGs, we establish iteration complexity guarantees for computing approximate-NE under exact gradients and provide sample complexity bounds in both the generative model and on-policy settings. Our results extend beyond prior work restricted to zero-sum cMGs, providing the first theoretical analysis of common-interest cMGs.
凸马尔可夫博弈及其扩展:纳什均衡存在性的新证明、特性刻画与学习算法 /
Convex Markov Games and Beyond: New Proof of Existence, Characterization and Learning Algorithms for Nash Equilibria
1️⃣ 一句话总结
这篇论文将传统的马尔可夫博弈扩展到更一般的效用函数场景,证明了纳什均衡的存在性并揭示了其数学本质,同时设计了无需环境模型的学习算法,为多智能体在复杂协作场景中的决策提供了理论基础。