This was part of Distributed Solutions to Complex Societal Problems Reunion Workshop

Mean Field Games and Master Equation through the Lens of Conservation Laws

Jameson Graber, Baylor University

Thursday, February 23, 2023



Slides
Abstract: In this I will present new results, based on joint work with Alpar Meszaros, on a nonlinear transport equation written on the space of probability measures that allows us to study mean field games and master equations. We consider both deterministic problems and problems in presence of idiosyncratic noise. The point of view via this transport equation has two important consequences. First, this equation reveals a new monotonicity condition that is sufficient both for the uniqueness of MFG Nash equilibria and for the global in time well-posedness of master equations. Interestingly, this condition is in general in dichotomy with both the Lasry-Lions and displacement monotonicity conditions, studied so far in the literature. Second, in the absence of monotonicity, the conservative form of the transport equation can be used to define weak entropy solutions to the master equation. We construct several concrete examples to demonstrate that MFG Nash equilibria, whether or not they actually exist, may not be selected by the entropy solutions of the master equation.