Many optimization problems arising from machine learning applications can be cast as the minimization of the sum of two functions: the first one typically represents the expected risk, and in practice it is replaced by the empirical risk, and the other one imposes a priori information on the solution. Since in general the first term … Read more
In this paper we propose third-order methods for composite convex optimization problems in which the smooth part is a three-times continuously differentiable function with Lipschitz continuous third-order derivatives. The methods are adaptive in the sense that they do not require the knowledge of the Lipschitz constant. Trial points are computed by the inexact minimization of … Read more
For minimizing a strongly convex objective function subject to linear inequality constraints, we consider a penalty approach that allows one to utilize stochastic methods for problems with a large number of constraints and/or objective function terms. We provide upper bounds on the distance between the solutions to the original constrained problem and the penalty reformulations, … Read more
In this paper, an inexact Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) has been proposed for solving the two-block separable convex optimization problem subject to linear equality constraints. The first resulting subproblem is solved inexactly under relative error criterion, while another subproblem called regularization problem is solved inexactly by introducing an indefinite proximal term. Meanwhile, the … Read more
We show that the conditional gradient method for the convex composite problem \[\min_x\{f(x) + \Psi(x)\}\] generates primal and dual iterates with a duality gap converging to zero provided a suitable growth property holds and the algorithm makes a judicious choice of stepsizes. The rate of convergence of the duality gap to zero ranges from sublinear … Read more
This works addresses the resolution of penalized least-squares problems using the proximal gradient algorithm (PGA). It is known that PGA can be accelerated by preconditioning strategies. However, typical effective choices of preconditioners may correspond to intricate matrices that are not easily inverted, and lead to an increased complexity in the computation of the proximity step. … Read more
We propose a nested primal–dual algorithm with extrapolation on the primal variable suited for minimizing the sum of two convex functions, one of which is continuously differentiable. The proposed algorithm can be interpreted as an inexact inertial forward–backward algorithm equipped with a prefixed number of inner primal–dual iterations for the proximal evaluation and a “warm–start” … Read more
For strongly convex objectives that are smooth, the classical theory of gradient descent ensures linear convergence relative to the number of gradient evaluations. An analogous nonsmooth theory is challenging. Even when the objective is smooth at every iterate, the corresponding local models are unstable and the number of cutting planes invoked by traditional remedies is … Read more
The method of nonlinear conjugate gradients (NCG) is widely used in practice for unconstrained optimization, but it satisfies weak complexity bounds at best when applied to smooth convex functions. In contrast, Nesterov’s accelerated gradient (AG) method is optimal up to constant factors for this class. However, when specialized to quadratic function, conjugate gradient is optimal … Read more
In this paper we study strong duality aspects in convex conic programming over general convex cones. It is known that the duality in convex optimization is linked with specific theorems of alternatives. We formulate and prove strong alternatives to the existence of the relative interior point in the primal (dual) feasible set. We analyze the … Read more