Verification theorems for stochastic optimal control problems in Hilbert spaces by means of a generalized Dynkin formula

Abstract

Verification theorems are key results to successfully employ the dynamic programming approach to optimal control problems. In this paper we introduce a new method to prove verification theorems for infinite dimensional stochastic optimal control problems. The method applies in the case of additively controlled Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, when the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation admits a mild solution. The main methodological novelty of our result relies on the fact that it is not needed to prove, as in previous literature, that the mild solution is a strong solution, i.e. a suitable limit of classical solutions of the HJB equation. To achieve our goal we prove a new type of Dynkin formula, which is the key tool for the proof of our main result.