Inexact and accelerated proximal point algorithms

We present inexact accelerated proximal point algorithms for minimizing a proper lower semicon- tinuous and convex function. We carry on a convergence analysis under different types of errors in the evaluation of the proximity operator, and we provide corresponding convergence rates for the objective function values. The proof relies on a generalization of the strategy … Read more

An Alternating Direction Method for Total Variation Denoising

We consider the image denoising problem using total variation (TV) regularization. This problem can be computationally challenging to solve due to the non-differentiability and non-linearity of the regularization term. We propose an alternating direction augmented Lagrangian (ADAL) method, based on a new variable splitting approach that results in subproblems that can be solved efficiently and … Read more

A Complementarity Partition Theorem for Multifold Conic Systems

Consider a homogeneous multifold convex conic system $$ Ax = 0, \; x\in K_1\times \cdots \times K_r $$ and its alternative system $$ A\transp y \in K_1^*\times \cdots \times K_r^*, $$ where $K_1,\dots, K_r$ are regular closed convex cones. We show that there is canonical partition of the index set $\{1,\dots,r\}$ determined by certain complementarity … Read more

Distributed Basis Pursuit

We propose a distributed algorithm for solving the optimization problem Basis Pursuit (BP). BP finds the least L1-norm solution of the underdetermined linear system Ax = b and is used, for example, in compressed sensing for reconstruction. Our algorithm solves BP on a distributed platform such as a sensor network, and is designed to minimize … Read more

A proximal point algorithm for sequential feature extraction applications

We propose a proximal point algorithm to solve LAROS problem, that is the problem of finding a “large approximately rank-one submatrix”. This LAROS problem is used to sequentially extract features in data. We also develop a new stopping criterion for the proximal point algorithm, which is based on the duality conditions of \eps-optimal solutions of … Read more

Efficient Serial and Parallel Coordinate Descent Methods for Huge-Scale Truss Topology Design

In this work we propose solving huge-scale instances of the truss topology design problem with coordinate descent methods. We develop four efficient codes: serial and parallel implementations of randomized and greedy rules for the selection of the variable (potential bar) to be updated in the next iteration. Both serial methods enjoy an O(n/k) iteration complexity … Read more

Twice differentiable characterizations of convexity notions for functions on full dimensional convex sets

We derive $C^2-$characterizations for convex, strictly convex, as well as uniformly convex functions on full dimensional convex sets. In the cases of convex and uniformly convex functions this weakens the well-known openness assumption on the convex sets. We also show that, in a certain sense, the full dimensionality assumption cannot be weakened further. In the … Read more

A quadratically convergent Newton method for vector optimization

We propose a Newton method for solving smooth unconstrained vector optimization problems under partial orders induced by general closed convex pointed cones. The method extends the one proposed by Fliege, Grana Drummond and Svaiter for multicriteria, which in turn is an extension of the classical Newton method for scalar optimization. The steplength is chosen by … Read more

Manifold Identification in Dual Averaging for Regularized Stochastic Online Learning

Iterative methods that calculate their steps from approximate subgradient directions have proved to be useful for stochastic learning problems over large and streaming data sets. When the objective consists of a loss function plus a nonsmooth regularization term, the solution often lies on a low-dimensional manifold of parameter space along which the regularizer is smooth. … Read more

Solving Basis Pursuit: Heuristic Optimality Check and Solver Comparison

The problem of finding a minimum l^1-norm solution to an underdetermined linear system is an important problem in compressed sensing, where it is also known as basis pursuit. We propose a heuristic optimality check as a general tool for l^1-minimization, which often allows for early termination by “guessing” a primal-dual optimal pair based on an … Read more