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On the approximation of optimal stochastic controls

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Abstract

The stochastic maximum principle gives a necessary condition for the optimal control problem for diffusions. If the controlled diffusion is approximated by a controlled Markov chain, and if approximating controls are chosen to maximize a Hamiltonian for the chain, then it is shown using weak convergence that the chains converge to a diffusion with a control satisfying the necessary condition of the maximum principle, and the corresponding costs also converge.

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Communicated by R. Rishel

This research was supported by NSERC under Grant No. A8051.

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Haussmann, U.G. On the approximation of optimal stochastic controls. J Optim Theory Appl 40, 433–450 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00933509

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