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Continuous-time Q-learning in Jump-diffusion Models under Tsallis Entropy

  • Lijun Bo
  • , Yijie Huang
  • , Xiang Yu
  • , Tingting Zhang

Research output: Journal article publication › Journal article › Academic research › peer-review

Abstract

This paper studies continuous-time reinforcement learning in jump-diffusion models by featuring the q-learning (the continuous-time counterpart of Q-learning) under Tsallis entropy regularization. Contrary to the Shannon entropy, the general form of Tsallis entropy renders the optimal policy not necessarily a Gibbs measure. Herein, the Lagrange multiplier and KKT condition are needed to ensure that the learned policy is a probability density function. As a consequence, the characterization of the optimal policy using the q-function also involves a Lagrange multiplier. In response, we establish the martingale characterization of the q-function and devise two q-learning algorithms depending on whether the Lagrange multiplier can be derived explicitly or not. We also study two numerical examples, namely, an optimal liquidation problem in dark pools and a non-LQ control problem. It is interesting to see therein that the optimal policies under the Tsallis entropy regularization can be characterized explicitly, which are distributions concentrated on some compact support. The satisfactory performance of our q-learning algorithms is illustrated in each example.

Original languageEnglish
JournalMathematics and Financial Economics
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 18 Jun 2026

Keywords

  • Continuous-time q-learning
  • Jump-diffusion processes
  • Lagrange multiplier
  • Optimal policy distribution
  • Portfolio liquidation
  • Tsallis entropy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistics and Probability
  • Finance
  • Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty

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