Backward Reachability Approach to State-Constrained Stochastic Optimal Control Problems for Jump Diffusion Systems

TL;DR

This paper develops a backward reachability method to analyze state-constrained stochastic optimal control problems for jump diffusion systems, representing the value function as a zero-level set of a continuous auxiliary solution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach linking the original value function to an auxiliary HJB equation with unbounded controls, handling discontinuities and singularities.

Findings

Value function characterized as zero-level set of auxiliary solution

Proved existence and uniqueness of the auxiliary HJB solution

Addressed challenges of unbounded controls and Levy measure singularities

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the stochastic optimal control problem for jump diffusion systems with state constraints. In general, the value function of such problems is a discontinuous viscosity solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, since the regularity cannot be guaranteed at the boundary of the state constraint. By adapting approaches of \cite{Bokanowski_SICON_2016} and the stochastic target theory, we obtain an equivalent representation of the original value function as the backward reachable set. We then show that this backward reachable can be characterized by the zero-level set of the auxiliary value function for the unconstrained stochastic control problem, which includes two additional unbounded controls as a consequence of the martingale representation theorem. We prove that the auxiliary value function is a unique continuous viscosity solution of the associated HJB equation, which is the second-order nonlinear integro-partial differential equation (IPDE). Our paper provides an explicit way to characterize the original (possibly discontinuous) value function as a zero-level set of the continuous solution of the auxiliary HJB equation. The proof of the existence and uniqueness requires a new technique due to the unbounded control sets, and the presence of the singularity of the corresponding L\'evy measure in the nonlocal operator of the HJB equation.