Optimality necessary conditions in singular stochastic control problems with nonsmooth data

The present paper studies the stochastic maximum principle in singular optimal control, where the state is governed by a stochastic differential equation with nonsmooth coefficients, allowing both classical control and singular control. The proof of the main result is based on the approximation of the initial problem, by a sequence of control problems with smooth coefficients. We, then apply Ekeland's variational principle for this approximating sequence of control problems, in order to establish necessary conditions satisfied by a sequence of near optimal controls. Finally, we prove the convergence of the scheme, using Krylov's inequality in the nondegenerate case and the Bouleau-Hirsch flow property in the degenerate one. The adjoint process obtained is given by means of distributional derivatives of the coefficients.     

Necessary conditions of Pareto optimality for multiobjective optimal control problems under constraints

This paper studies multiobjective optimal control problems in presence of constraints in the discrete time framework. Both the finite- and infinite-horizon settings are considered. The paper provides necessary conditions of Pareto optimality under lighter smoothness assumptions compared to the previously obtained results. These conditions are given in the form of weak and strong Pontryagin principles which generalize the existing ones. To obtain some of these results, we provide new multiplier rules for multiobjective static optimization problems and new Pontryagin principles for the finite horizon multiobjective optimal control problems.     

Necessary conditions for optimal singular stochastic control problems

In this paper, necessary conditions of optimality, in the form of a maximum principle, are obtained for singular stochastic control problems. This maximum principle is derived for a state process satisfying a general stochastic differential equation where the coefficient associated to the control process can be dependent on the state, extending earlier results of the literature.     

Necessary conditions for stochastic optimal control problems in infinite dimensions

The purpose of this paper is to establish the first and second order necessary conditions for stochastic optimal controls in infinite dimensions. The control system is governed by a stochastic evolution equation, in which both drift and diffusion terms may contain the control variable and the set of controls is allowed to be nonconvex. Only one adjoint equation is introduced to derive the first order necessary optimality condition either by means of the classical variational analysis approach or, under an additional assumption, by using differential calculus of set-valued maps. More importantly, in order to avoid the essential difficulty with the well-posedness of higher order adjoint equations, using again the classical variational analysis approach, only the first and the second order adjoint equations are needed to formulate the second order necessary optimality condition, in which the solutions to the second order adjoint equation are understood in the sense of the relaxed transposition.     

Deterministic near-optimal control,part 1: Necessary and sufficient conditions for near-optimality

Near-optimization is as sensible and important as optimization for both theory and applications. This paper concerns dynamic near-optimization, or near-optimal control, for systems governed by deterministic ordinary differential equations. Necessary and sufficient conditions for near-optima control are studied. It is shown that any near-optimal control nearly maximizes the Hamiltonian in some integral sense, and vice versa, if some additional concavity conditions are imposed. Error estimates for both the near-optimality of the controls and the near-maximality of the Hamiltonian are obtained. A number of examples are presented to illustrate these results.This work was supported by the RGC Earmarked Grant CUHK 249/94E. Helpful comments from L. D. Berkovitz are gratefully acknowledged.     

On optimal solutions of general continuous-singular stochastic control problem of McKean-Vlasov type

In this paper, we establish general necessary optimality conditions for stochastic continuous-singular control of McKean-Vlasov type equations. The coefficients of the state equation depend on the state of the solution process as well as of its probability law and the control variable. The coefficients of the system are nonlinear and depend explicitly on the absolutely continuous component of the control. The control domain under consideration is not assumed to be convex. The proof of our main result is based on the first- and second-order derivatives, with respect to measure in Wasserstein space of probability measures, and by using variational method.     

Maximum principle and second-order conditions for minimax problems of optimal control

In this paper, we study the optimal control problem of minimizing the functionalJ(x, u)=max_t1tt2(x(t),t). We formulate and prove necessary optimality conditions for this problem. We establish the equivalence between the initial minimax problem and a problem involving a terminal functional and phase constraints.     

On extremal solutions to stochastic control problems

We identify two solutions of a controlled diffusion if the corresponding one-dimensional marginals of the state and control process agree. The extreme points of the set of such equivalence classes are shown to correspond to Markov controls.     

A maximum principle for optimal control problem of fully coupled forward-backward stochastic systems with partial information

The paper is concerned with a stochastic optimal control problem in which the controlled system is described by a fully coupled nonlinear forward-backward stochastic differential equation driven by a Brownian motion. It is required that all admissible control processes are adapted to a given subfiltration of the filtration generated by the underlying Brownian motion. For this type of partial information control, one sufficient (a verification theorem) and one necessary conditions of optimality are proved. The control domain need to be convex and the forward diffusion coefficient of the system can contain the control variable. This work was partially supported by Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB814904), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10325101) and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. Y605478, Y606667)     

A necessary and sufficient condition for duality in multiobjective variational problems

In this paper we move forward in the study of duality and efficiency in multiobjective variational problems. We introduce new classes of pseudoinvex functions, and prove that not only it is a sufficient condition to establish duality results, but it is also necessary. Moreover, these functions are characterized in order that all Kuhn–Tucker or Fritz John points are efficient solutions. Recent papers are improved. We provide an example to show this improvement and illustrate these classes of functions and results.     

Imprecise parameters for near-optimal control of stochastic SIV epidemic model

The change of parameters may influence the dynamic behaviors of epidemic diseases. Biological system parameters can also be changed due to diverse uncertainties such as lack of data and errors in the statistical approach. The problem of how to define and decide the optimal-control strategies of epidemic diseases with imprecise parameters deserves further researches. The paper presents a stochastic susceptible, infected, and vaccinated (SIV) system that includes imprecise parameters. Firstly, we give the method of parameter estimates of the SIV model. Then, by using Ekeland's principle and Hamiltonian function, we obtain the sufficient conditions and necessary conditions of near-optimal control of the SIV epidemic model with imprecise parameters. At last, numerical examples prove our theoretical results.     

A note on the use of direct sufficient conditions in optimal control problems

It is always possible to transform a nonautonomous optimal control problem into an autonomous one. However, the direct sufficient conditions may yield no information when applied to this autonomous problem, even though they do allow one to conclude sufficiency when applied to the original nonautonomous problem.This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, under Grant No. AFOSR-76-2923.     

On extremal solutions to stochastic control problems,II

The set of attainable laws of the joint state-control process of a controlled diffusion is analyzed from a convex analytic viewpoint. Various equivalence relations depending on one-dimensional marginals thereof are defined on this set and the corresponding equivalence classes are studied.     

On some optimal control problems and their finite difference approximations and regularization for quasilinear elliptic equations with controls in the coefficients

Mathematical statements of the optimal control problems for quasilinear elliptic equations with the controls in the variable coefficients of the equation of state are considered. Both local and integral constraints on the controls are considered. The objective functionals correspond to the optimization with respect to a certain number of quality indexes. Finite difference approximations of optimization problems are constructed, and estimates of the approximation error with respect to the state and to the objective functional are established. The weak convergence in control is proved. The approximations are regularized after Tikhonov. Interesting examples of some applied optimization problems that naturally lead to the nonlinear optimal control problems examined in this paper are considered.     

一类状态受限的随机延迟最优控制问题的最大值原理

本文考虑一类状态受限的随机延迟最优控制问题,其中控制域为凸集且扩散项系数中含有控制变量.控制域可以是无界集合.用最大值原理方法建立了最优控制满足的必要条件.也给出了充分最优性条件,从而有助于找到最优控制.     

Second-order necessary optimality conditions for semilinear elliptic optimal control problems

This paper deals with the necessary optimality conditions for semilinear elliptic optimal control problems with a pure pointwise state constraint and mixed pointwise constraints. By computing the so-called ‘sigma-term’, we obtain the second-order necessary optimality conditions for the problems, which is sharper than some previously established results in the literature. Besides, we give a condition which relaxes the Slater condition and guarantees that the Lagrangian is normalized.     

Solution of a class of stochastic linear-convex control problems using deterministic equivalents

In this paper, we identify a new class of stochastic linearconvex optimal control problems, whose solution can be obtained by solving appropriate equivalent deterministic optimal control problems. The term linear-convex is meant to imply that the dynamics is linear and the cost function is convex in the state variables, linear in the control variables, and separable. Moreover, some of the coefficients in the dynamics are allowed to be random and the expectations of the control variables are allowed to be constrained. For any stochastic linear-convex problem, the equivalent deterministic problem is obtained. Furthermore, it is shown that the optimal feedback policy of the stochastic problem is affine in its current state, where the affine transformation depends explicitly on the optimal solution of the equivalent deterministic problem in a simple way. The result is illustrated by its application to a simple stochastic inventory control problem.This research was supported in part by NSERC Grant A4617, by SSHRC Grant 410-83-0888, and by an INRIA Post-Doctoral Fellowship.     

随机非线性物价模型的最优控制

将政府对价格系统的宏观调控作为外部控制力,建立受控的随机非线性物价模型;利用拟Hamilton系统随机平均法和随机动态规划原理的非线性随机控制策略对系统实施最优控制,控制目标是实现系统的稳定性变大;并通过对比控制前后的Lyapunov指教值说明了控制的有效性.