The stochastic Ravine accelerated gradient method with general extrapolation coefficients

Abstract: In a real Hilbert space domain setting, we study the convergence properties of the stochastic Ravine accelerated gradient method for convex differentiable optimization. We consider the general form of this algorithm where the extrapolation coefficients can vary with each iteration, and where the evaluation of the gradient is subject to random errors. This general … Read more

Inexact Direct-Search Methods for Bilevel Optimization Problems

In this work, we introduce new direct search schemes for the solution of bilevel optimization (BO) problems. Our methods rely on a fixed accuracy black box oracle for the lower-level problem, and deal both with smooth and potentially nonsmooth true objectives. We thus analyze for the first time in the literature direct search schemes in … Read more

A Stochastic-Gradient-based Interior-Point Algorithm for Solving Smooth Bound-Constrained Optimization Problems

A stochastic-gradient-based interior-point algorithm for minimizing a continuously differentiable objective function (that may be nonconvex) subject to bound constraints is presented, analyzed, and demonstrated through experimental results. The algorithm is unique from other interior-point methods for solving smooth (nonconvex) optimization problems since the search directions are computed using stochastic gradient estimates. It is also unique … Read more

A Sequential Quadratic Programming Method for Optimization with Stochastic Objective Functions, Deterministic Inequality Constraints and Robust Subproblems

In this paper, a robust sequential quadratic programming method of Burke and Han (Math Programming, 1989)  for constrained optimization is generalized to problem with stochastic objective function, deterministic equality and inequality constraints. A stochastic line search scheme in Paquette and Scheinberg (SIOPT, 2020) is employed to globalize the steps. We show that in the case … Read more

Retraction based Direct Search Methods for Derivative Free Riemannian Optimization

Direct search methods represent a robust and reliable class of algorithms for solving black-box optimization problems. In this paper, we explore the application of those strategies to Riemannian optimization, wherein minimization is to be performed with respect to variables restricted to lie on a manifold. More specifically, we consider classic and line search extrapolated variants … Read more

Regularized quasi-monotone method for stochastic optimization

We adapt the quasi-monotone method from Nesterov, Shikhman (2015) for composite convex minimization in the stochastic setting. For the proposed numerical scheme we derive the optimal convergence rate in terms of the last iterate, rather than on average as it is standard for subgradient methods. The theoretical guarantee for individual convergence of the regularized quasi-monotone … Read more

Time-Varying Semidefinite Programming: Geometry of the Trajectory of Solutions

In many applications, solutions of convex optimization problems must be updated on-line, as functions of time. In this paper, we consider time-varying semidefinite programs (TV-SDP), which are linear optimization problems in the semidefinite cone whose coefficients (input data) depend on time. We are interested in the geometry of the solution (output data) trajectory, defined as … Read more

A Nonmonotone Matrix-Free Algorithm for Nonlinear Equality-Constrained Least-Squares Problems

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

Complexity iteration analysis for stongly convex multi-objective optimization using a Newton path-following procedure

In this note we consider the iteration complexity of solving strongly convex multi objective optimization. We discuss the precise meaning of this problem, and indicate it is loosely defined, but the most natural notion is to find a set of Pareto optimal points across a grid of scalarized problems. We derive that in most cases, … Read more

Zero Order Stochastic Weakly Convex Composite Optimization

In this paper we consider stochastic weakly convex composite problems, however without the existence of a stochastic subgradient oracle. We present a derivative free algorithm that uses a two point approximation for computing a gradient estimate of the smoothed function. We prove convergence at a similar rate as state of the art methods, however with … Read more