Clément W. Royer The difficulty of minimizing a nonconvex function is in part explained by the presence of saddle points. This slows down optimization algorithms and impacts worst-case complexity guarantees. However, many nonconvex problems of interest possess a favorable structure for optimization, in the sense that saddle points can be escaped efficiently by appropriate algorithms. This strict saddle … Read more
Derivative-free optimization (DFO) consists in finding the best value of an objective function without relying on derivatives. To tackle such problems, one may build approximate derivatives, using for instance finite-difference estimates. One may also design algorithmic strategies that perform space exploration and seek improvement over the current point. The first type of strategy often provides … Read more
Positive spanning sets span a given vector space by nonnegative linear combinations of their elements. These have attracted significant attention in recent years, owing to their extensive use in derivative-free optimization. In this setting, the quality of a positive spanning set is assessed through its cosine measure, a geometric quantity that expresses how well such … Read more
Nonconvex minimization algorithms often benefit from the use of second-order information as represented by the Hessian matrix. When the Hessian at a critical point possesses negative eigenvalues, the corresponding eigenvectors can be used to search for further improvement in the objective function value. Computing such eigenpairs can be computationally challenging, particularly if the Hessian matrix … Read more
Derivative-free algorithms seek the minimum value of a given objective function without using any derivative information. The performance of these methods often worsen as the dimension increases, a phenomenon predicted by their worst-case complexity guarantees. Nevertheless, recent algorithmic proposals have shown that incorporating randomization into otherwise deterministic frameworks could alleviate this effect for direct-search methods. … Read more
Nonlinear conjugate gradients are among the most popular techniques for solving continuous optimization problems. Although these schemes have long been studied from a global convergence standpoint, their worst-case complexity properties have yet to be fully understood, especially in the nonconvex setting. In particular, it is unclear whether nonlinear conjugate gradient methods possess better guarantees than … Read more
Least squares form one of the most prominent classes of optimization problems, with numerous applications in scientific computing and data fitting. When such formulations aim at modeling complex systems, the optimization process must account for nonlinear dynamics by incorporating constraints. In addition, these systems often incorporate a large number of variables, which increases the difficulty … Read more
Worst-case complexity guarantees for nonconvex optimization algorithms have been a topic of growing interest. Multiple frameworks that achieve the best known complexity bounds among a broad class of first- and second-order strategies have been proposed. These methods have often been designed primarily with complexity guarantees in mind and, as a result, represent a departure from … Read more
In many contemporary optimization problems such as those arising in machine learning, it can be computationally challenging or even infeasible to evaluate an entire function or its derivatives. This motivates the use of stochastic algorithms that sample problem data, which can jeopardize the guarantees obtained through classical globalization techniques in optimization such as a trust … Read more
Globally convergent variants of the Gauss-Newton algorithm are often the methods of choice to tackle nonlinear least-squares problems. Among such frameworks, Levenberg-Marquardt and trust-region methods are two well-established, similar paradigms. Both schemes have been studied when the Gauss-Newton model is replaced by a random model that is only accurate with a given probability. Trust-region schemes … Read more