Quantum Markov Decision Processes: Dynamic and Semi-Definite Programs for Optimal Solutions

Abstract In this paper, building on the formulation of quantum Markov decision processes (q-MDPs) presented in our previous work [ N. Saldi, S. Sanjari, and S. Yüksel , Quantum Markov Decision Processes: General Theory, Approximations, and Classes of Policies , SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 2024], our focus shifts to the development of semi-definite programming approaches for optimal policies and value functions of both open-loop and classical-state-preserving closed-loop policies. First, by using the duality between the dynamic programming and the semi-definite programming formulations of any q-MDP with open-loop policies, we establish that the optimal value function is linear and there exists a stationary optimal policy among open-loop policies. Then, using these results, we establish a method for computing an approximately optimal value function and formulate computation of optimal stationary open-loop policy as a bi-linear program. Next, we turn our attention to classical-state-preserving closed-loop policies. Dynamic programming and semi-definite programming formulations for classical-state-preserving closed-loop policies are established, where duality of these two formulations similarly enables us to prove that the optimal policy is linear and there exists an optimal stationary classical-state-preserving closed-loop policy. Then, similar to the open-loop case, we establish a method for computing the optimal value function and pose computation of optimal stationary classical-state-preserving closed-loop policies as a bi-linear program.