Explore or exploit? A generic model and an exactly solvable case

Thomas Gueudr\'e, Alexander Dobrinevski and Jean-Philippe Bouchaud

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: Finding a good compromise between the exploitation of known resources and the exploration of unknown, but potentially more profitable choices, is a general problem, which arises in many different scientific disciplines. We propose a stylized model for these exploration-exploitation situations, including population or economic growth, portfolio optimisation, evolutionary dynamics, or the problem of optimal pinning of vortices or dislocations in disordered materials. We find the exact growth rate of this model for tree-like geometries and prove the existence of an optimal migration rate in this case. Numerical simulations in the one-dimensional case confirm the generic existence of an optimum.

Date: 2013-10, Revised 2013-12
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Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 050602 (2014)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:arx:papers:1310.5114

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