Skip to content
Preprint

Horizon-Independent Contraction for Continuous-Time Discounted Regularized Mean-Field Games

Aug 2026 · 0 citations · 40 references
Computer Science Engineering Mathematics

Abstract

We study contraction properties of non-stationary continuous-time mean-field games (MFGs) under discounting and entropy regularization. The state of the representative agent evolves according to a controlled continuous-time Markov chain, and both the state and action spaces are finite. In contrast to the undiscounted case, we show that, under a sufficiently large discount rate, finite-horizon MFGs admit a horizon-independent contraction condition, which also coincides with the corresponding infinite-horizon non-stationary contraction condition. As a byproduct, we obtain an explicit convergence rate between finite- and infinite-horizon mean-field equilibria. For each finite horizon, we further derive a refined contraction criterion from the spectral radius of a positive operator that majorizes the propagation of policy errors, and show that its large-horizon limit agrees with the horizon-independent contraction factor. Finally, we provide an explicit error bound between discounted and undiscounted finite-horizon regularized equilibria.

View source

Similar papers

Preprint Sep 2026

Infinite Horizon Mean-Field Terminal Value Problem

We introduce a class of finite- and infinite-horizon discrete-time control problems for studying macroscale systems in discrete time, which we refer to as mean-field terminal value problems (MFTVPs). An MFTVP takes a terminal \(Q\)-function as input and, starting from this terminal \(Q\)-function, seeks an indefinite b...

U. Aydın, T. Başar, Naci Saldi · 0 citations
Preprint Aug 2026

Monotone Inclusion Approach to Weakly Monotone Discrete-Time Finite-Horizon Mean-Field Games

We revisit the problem of computing mean-field equilibria (MFEs) in discrete-time, monotone, finite-horizon mean-field games (MFGs). We show that, when the transition kernel is independent of the state-measure term and the reward function satisfies the usual weak monotonicity condition and is Lipschitz continuous, anch...

U. Aydın, T. Başar, Naci Saldi · 0 citations
Preprint Aug 2026

Existence of Relaxed Equilibrium for Time-Inconsistent Mean Field Games: A Set-Valued Fixed Point Approach

This paper studies the existence of relaxed equilibria for finite-horizon continuous-time time-inconsistent mean field games. We work directly on the product space of relaxed feedback policies and population flows. The policy component is endowed with the stable topology of Young measures, while the population componen...

Zhen-Hua Wang, Zhou Zhou · 0 citations
Preprint Aug 2026

Self-fictitious-play for Potential Monotone Ergodic Mean-field Games

We investigate long-time learning in ergodic, potential, monotone mean-field games (MFGs) via a self-fictitious-play (SFP) dynamics coupling an optimally controlled diffusion with a slowly evolving belief. At each time, the state follows the optimal feedback associated with the current belief, while the belief is updat...

Yu-Peng Bai, Mathieu Laurière, Zhen-Jie Ren et al. · 0 citations
Preprint Oct 2026

Stationary Ergodic Mean-field Games of Constrained Singular Controls

We study a stationary ergodic mean-field game of scalar type where the representative player controls a diffusion through two-sided singular controls exerted only at the jump times of an independent Poisson process. For each mean-field parameter, we solve the novel constrained ergodic singular control problem, proving...

Giorgio Ferrari, Jukka Lempa, Neofytos Rodosthenous et al. · 0 citations

We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads. See our Cookie Policy.