This project investigates numerical methods for solving fully coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) of McKean-Vlasov type. Having numerical solvers for such mean field FBSDEs is of interest because of the potential application of these equations to optimization problems over a large population, say for instance mean field games (MFG) and optimal mean field control problems . Theory for this kind of problems has met with great success since the early works on mean field games by Lasry and Lions, see [29], and by Huang, Caines, and Malhame, see [26]. Generally speaking, the purpose is to understand the continuum limit of optimizers or of equilibria (say in Nash sense) as the number of underlying players tends to infinity. When approached from the probabilistic viewpoint, solutions to these control problems (or games) can be described by coupled mean field FBSDEs, meaning that the coefficients depend upon the own marginal laws of the solution. In this note, we detail two methods for solving such FBSDEs which we implement and apply to five benchmark problems . The first method uses a tree structure to represent the pathwise laws of the solution, whereas the second method uses a grid discretization to represent the time marginal laws of the solutions. Both are based on a Picard scheme; importantly, we combine each of them with a generic continuation method that permits to extend the time horizon (or equivalently the coupling strength between the two equations) for which the Picard iteration converges.
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Generic Properties of First-Order Mean Field Games
We consider a class of deterministic mean field games, where the state associated with each player evolves according to an ODE which is linear w.r.t. the control. Existence, uniqueness, and stability of solutions are studied from the point of viewof generic theory. Within a suitable topological space of dynamics and cost functionals, we prove that, for “nearly all” mean field games (in the Baire category sense) the best reply map is single-valued for a.e. player. As a consequence, the mean field game admits a strong (not randomized) solution. Examples are given of open sets of games admitting a single solution, and other open sets admitting multiple solutions. Further examples show the existence of an open set of MFG having a unique solution which is asymptotically stable w.r.t. the best reply map, and another open set of MFG having a unique solution which is unstable. We conclude with an example of a MFG with terminal constraints which does not have any solution, not even in the mild sense with randomized strategies.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2154201
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10398447
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Dynamic Games and Applications
- ISSN:
- 2153-0785
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This project investigates numerical methods for solving fully coupled forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) of McKean-Vlasov type. Having numerical solvers for such mean field FBSDEs is of interest because of the potential application of these equations to optimization problems over a large population, say for instance mean field games (MFG) and optimal mean field control problems. Theory for this kind of problems has met with great success since the early works on mean field games by Lasry and Lions, and by Huang, Caines, and Malhame. Generally speaking, the purpose is to understand the continuum limit of optimizers or of equilibria (say in Nash sense) as the number of underlying players tends to infinity. When approached from the probabilistic viewpoint, solutions to these control problems (or games) can be described by coupled mean field FBSDEs, meaning that the coefficients depend upon the own marginal laws of the solution. In this note, we detail two methods for solving such FBSDEs which we implement and apply to five benchmark problems. The first method uses a tree structure to represent the pathwise laws of the solution, whereas the second method uses a grid discretization to represent the time marginal laws of the solutions. Both are based on a Picard scheme; importantly, we combine each of them with a generic continuation method that permits to extend the time horizon (or equivalently the coupling strength between the two equations) for which the Picard iteration converges.more » « less
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Mean field games (MFG) and mean field control (MFC) are critical classes of multiagent models for the efficient analysis of massive populations of interacting agents. Their areas of application span topics in economics, finance, game theory, industrial engineering, crowd motion, and more. In this paper, we provide a flexible machine learning framework for the numerical solution of potential MFG and MFC models. State-of-the-art numerical methods for solving such problems utilize spatial discretization that leads to a curse of dimensionality. We approximately solve high-dimensional problems by combining Lagrangian and Eulerian viewpoints and leveraging recent advances from machine learning. More precisely, we work with a Lagrangian formulation of the problem and enforce the underlying Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation that is derived from the Eulerian formulation. Finally, a tailored neural network parameterization of the MFG/MFC solution helps us avoid any spatial discretization. Our numerical results include the approximate solution of 100-dimensional instances of optimal transport and crowd motion problems on a standard work station and a validation using a Eulerian solver in two dimensions. These results open the door to much-anticipated applications of MFG and MFC models that are beyond reach with existing numerical methods.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s13235-022-00487-3
