Nonzero-sum games for continuous-time Markov chains with unbounded discounted payoffs

Abstract

In this paper, we study two-person nonzero-sum games for continuous-time Markov chains with discounted payoff criteria and Borel action spaces. The transition rates are possibly unbounded, and the payoff functions might have neither upper nor lower bounds. We give conditions that ensure the existence of Nash equilibria in stationary strategies. For the zero-sum case, we prove the existence of the value of the game, and also provide arecursiveway to compute it, or at least to approximate it. Our results are applied to a controlled queueing system. We also show that if the transition rates areuniformly bounded, then a continuous-time game is equivalent, in a suitable sense, to a discrete-time Markov game.