Q-learning with Posterior Sampling

Bayesian posterior sampling techniques have demonstrated superior empirical performance in many exploration-exploitation settings. However, their theoretical analysis remains a challenge, especially in complex settings like reinforcement learning. In this paper, we introduce Q-Learning with Posterior Sampling (PSQL), a simple Q-learning-based algorithm that uses Gaussian posteriors on Q-values for exploration, akin to the popular Thompson Sampling algorithm in the multi-armed bandit setting. We show that in the tabular episodic MDP setting, PSQL achieves a regret bound of $\tilde O(H^2\sqrt{SAT})$, closely matching the known lower bound of $\Omega(H\sqrt{SAT})$. Here, S, A denote the number of states and actions in the underlying Markov Decision Process (MDP), and $T=KH$ with $K$ being the number of episodes and $H$ being the planning horizon. Our work provides several new technical insights into the core challenges in combining posterior sampling with dynamic programming and TD-learning-based RL algorithms, along with novel ideas for resolving those difficulties. We hope this will form a starting point for analyzing this efficient and important algorithmic technique in even more complex RL settings.

@article{agrawal2025_2506.00917,
  title={ Q-learning with Posterior Sampling },
  author={ Priyank Agrawal and Shipra Agrawal and Azmat Azati },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.00917},
  year={ 2025 }
}