---
title: "alpha vector"
type: concept
related: [Alpha Vector, Policy, Utility Theory, Conditional Plan]
source: https://www.jemoka.com/posts/kbhalpha_vector/
confidence: high
status: active
---

Recall, from conditional plan evaluation, we had that:
\begin{equation} U^{\pi}(b) = \sum_{s}^{} b(s) U^{\pi}(s) \end{equation}
let&rsquo;s write it as:
\begin{equation} U^{\pi}(b) = \sum_{s}^{} b(s) U^{\pi}(s) = {\alpha_{\pi}}^{\top} b \end{equation}
where \(\U_{\pi}(s)\) is the conditional plan evaluation starting at each of the initial states.
\begin{equation} \alpha_{\pi} = \qty[ U^{\pi}(s_1), U^{\pi}(s_2) ] \end{equation}
You will notice, then the utility of \(b\) is linear on \(b\) for different policies \(\alpha_{\pi}\):
At every belief \(b\), there is a policy which has the highest \(U(b)\) at that \(b\) given be the alpha vector formulation.
Additional Information top action you can just represent a policy out of alpha vectors by taking the top (root) action of the conditional plan with the alpha vector on top.
optimal value function for POMDP with alpha vector Recall:
\begin{equation} U^{*}(b) = \max_{\pi} U^{\pi}(b) = \max_{\pi} \alpha_{\pi}^{\top}b \end{equation}
NOTE! This function (look at the chart above from \(b\) to \(u\)) is:
piecewise linear convex (because the &ldquo;best&rdquo; (highest) line) is always curving up and so, for a policy instantiated by a bunch of alpha vectors \(\Gamma\), we have:
\begin{equation} U^{\Gamma}(b) = \max_{\alpha \in \Gamma} \alpha^{\top} b \end{equation}
To actually extract a policy out of this set of vectors \(\Gamma\), we turn to one-step lookahead in POMDP
one-step lookahead in POMDP Say you want to extract a policy out of a bunch of alpha vectors.
Let \(\alpha \in \Gamma\), a set of alpha vectors.
\begin{equation} \pi^{\Gamma}(b) = \arg\max_{a}\qty[R(b,a)+\gamma \qty(\sum_{o}^{}P(o|b,a) U^{\Gamma}(update(b,a,o)))] \end{equation}
where:
\begin{equation} R(b,a) = \sum_{s}^{} R(s,a)b(s) \end{equation}
\begin{align} P(o|b,a) &amp;= \sum_{s}^{} p(o|s,a) b(s) \\ &amp;= \sum_{s}^{} \sum_{s&rsquo;}^{} T(s&rsquo;|s,a) O(o|s&rsquo;,a) b(s) \end{align}
and
\begin{equation} U^{\Gamma}(b) = \max_{\alpha \in \Gamma} \alpha^{\top} b \end{equation}
alpha vector pruning Say we had as set of alpha vectors \(\Gamma\):
\(\alpha_{3}\) isn&rsquo;t all that useful here. So we ask:
&ldquo;Is alpha dominated by some \(\alpha_{i}\) everywhere?&rdquo;
We formulate this question in terms of a linear program:
\begin{equation} \max_{\delta, b} \delta \end{equation}
where \(\delta\) is the gap between \(\alpha\) and the utility o
subject to:
\begin{align} &amp;1^{\top} b = 1\ \text{(b adds up to 1)} \\ &amp; b\geq 0 \\ &amp; \alpha^{\top} b \geq \alpha&rsquo;^{\top} b + \delta, \forall \alpha&rsquo; \in \Gamma \end{align}
if \(\delta &lt; 0\), then we can prune \(\alpha\) because it had been dominated.
if each value on the top of the set
