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Applied Mathematics and Optimization, Vol.62, No.1, 81-144, 2010
Max-Plus Stochastic Control and Risk-Sensitivity
In the Maslov idempotent probability calculus, expectations of random variables are defined so as to be linear with respect to max-plus addition and scalar multiplication. This paper considers control problems in which the objective is to minimize the max-plus expectation of some max-plus additive running cost. Such problems arise naturally as limits of some types of risk sensitive stochastic control problems. The value function is a viscosity solution to a quasivariational inequality (QVI) of dynamic programming. Equivalence of this QVI to a nonlinear parabolic PDE with discontinuous Hamiltonian is used to prove a comparison theorem for viscosity sub- and super-solutions. An example from mathematical finance is given, and an application in nonlinear H-infinity control is sketched.
Keywords:Max-plus control;Max-plus additive cost;Risk-sensitive stochastic control;Nonlinear parabolic PDEs;Viscosity solutions