Lexicographic Lipschitz Bandits: New Algorithms and a Lower Bound
Bo Xue, Ji Cheng, Fei Liu, Yimu Wang, Lijun Zhang, Qingfu Zhang; 26(223):1−56, 2025.
Abstract
This paper studies a multiobjective bandit problem under lexicographic ordering, wherein the learner aims to maximize $m$ objectives, each with different levels of importance. First, we introduce the local trade-off, $\lambda_*$, which depicts the trade-off between different objectives. For the case when an upper bound of $\lambda_*$ is known, i.e., $\lambda\geq\lambda_*$, we develop an algorithm that achieves a general regret bound of $\widetilde{O}(\Lambda^i(\lambda)T^{(d_z^i+1)/(d_z^i+2)})$ for the $i$-th objective, where $i\in\{1,2,\ldots,m\}$, $\Lambda^i(\lambda)=1+\lambda+\cdots+\lambda^{i-1}$, $d_z^i$ is the zooming dimension for the $i$-th objective, and $T$ is the time horizon. Next, we provide a matching lower bound for the lexicographic Lipschitz bandit problem, proving that our algorithm is optimal in terms of $\lambda_*$ and $T$. Finally, for the case where $m=2$, we remove the dependence on the knowledge about $\lambda_*$, albeit at the cost of increasing the regret bound to $\widetilde{O}(\Lambda^i(\lambda_*)T^{(3d_z^i+4)/(3d_z^i+6)})$, which remains optimal in terms of $\lambda_*$. Compared to existing work on lexicographic multi-armed bandits, our approach improves the current regret bound of $\widetilde{O}(T^{2/3})$ and extends the number of arms to infinity. Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness of our algorithms.
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