Regularized Sequential Quadratic Programming

We present the formulation and analysis of a new sequential quadratic programming (\SQP) method for general nonlinearly constrained optimization. The method pairs a primal-dual generalized augmented Lagrangian merit function with a \emph{flexible} line search to obtain a sequence of improving estimates of the solution. This function is a primal-dual variant of the augmented Lagrangian proposed … Read more

Methods for Convex and General Quadratic Programming

Computational methods are considered for finding a point that satisfies the second-order necessary conditions for a general (possibly nonconvex) quadratic program (QP). The first part of the paper considers the formulation and analysis of an active-set method for a generic QP with both equality and inequality constraints. The method uses a search direction that is … Read more

A Primal-Dual Augmented Lagrangian

Nonlinearly constrained optimization problems can be solved by minimizing a sequence of simpler unconstrained or linearly constrained subproblems. In this paper, we discuss the formulation of subproblems in which the objective is a primal-dual generalization of the Hestenes-Powell augmented Lagrangian function. This generalization has the crucial feature that it is minimized with respect to both … Read more

A subspace minimization method for the trust-region step

We consider methods for large-scale unconstrained minimization based on finding an approximate minimizer of a quadratic function subject to a two-norm trust-region constraint. The Steihaug-Toint method uses the conjugate-gradient (CG) algorithm to minimize the quadratic over a sequence of expanding subspaces until the iterates either converge to an interior point or cross the constraint boundary. … Read more

Iterative methods for finding a trust-region step

We consider the problem of finding an approximate minimizer of a general quadratic function subject to a two-norm constraint. The Steihaug-Toint method minimizes the quadratic over a sequence of expanding subspaces until the iterates either converge to an interior point or cross the constraint boundary. The benefit of this approach is that an approximate solution … Read more

Iterative Solution of Augmented Systems Arising in Interior Methods

Iterative methods are proposed for certain augmented systems of linear equations that arise in interior methods for general nonlinear optimization. Interior methods define a sequence of KKT equations that represent the symmetrized (but indefinite) equations associated with Newton’s method for a point satisfying the perturbed optimality conditions. These equations involve both the primal and dual … Read more

A Primal-Dual Trust Region Algorithm for Nonlinear Optimization

This paper concerns general (nonconvex) nonlinear optimization when first and second derivatives of the objective and constraint functions are available. The proposed method is based on finding an approximate solution of a sequence of unconstrained subproblems parameterized by a scalar parameter. The objective function of each unconstrained subproblem is an augmented penalty-barrier function that involves … Read more