Characterization of the limit point of the central path in semidefinite programming

In linear programming, the central path is known to converge to the analytic center of the set of optimal solutions. Recently, it has been shown that this is not necessarily true for linear semidefinite programming in the absence of strict complementarity. The present paper deals with the formulation of a convex problem whose solution defines … Read more

SOSTOOLS: Sum of Squares Optimization Toolbox for MATLAB — User’s Guide

SOSTOOLS is a free MATLAB toolbox for formulating and solving sum of squares (SOS) optimization programs. It uses a simple notation and a flexible and intuitive high-level user interface to specify the SOS programs. Currently these are solved using SeDuMi, a well-known semidefinite programming solver, while SOSTOOLS handles internally all the necessary reformulations and data … Read more

Combinatorial Structures in Nonlinear Programming

Non-smoothness and non-convexity in optimization problems often arise because a combinatorial structure is imposed on smooth or convex data. The combinatorial aspect can be explicit, e.g. through the use of ”max”, ”min”, or ”if” statements in a model, or implicit as in the case of bilevel optimization where the combinatorial structure arises from the possible … Read more

Relating Homogeneous Cones and Positive Definite Cones via hBcalgebras

$T$-algebras are non-associative algebras defined by Vinberg in the early 1960’s for the purpose of studying homogeneous cones. Vinberg defined a cone $K(\mathcal A)$ for each $T$-algebra $\mathcal A$ and proved that every homogeneous cone is isomorphic to one such $K(\mathcal A)$. We relate each $T$-algebra $\mathcal A$ with a space of linear operators in … Read more

PENNON – A Code for Convex Nonlinear and Semidefinite Programming

We introduce a computer program PENNON for the solution of problems of convex Nonlinear and Semidefinite Programming (NLP-SDP). The algorithm used in PENNON is a generalized version of the Augmented Lagrangian method, originally introduced by Ben-Tal and Zibulevsky for convex NLP problems. We present generalization of this algorithm to convex NLP-SDP problems, as implemented in … Read more

A primal-dual symmetric relaxation for homogeneous conic systems

We address the feasibility of the pair of alternative conic systems of constraints Ax = 0, x \in C, and -A^T y \in C^*, defined by an m by n matrix A and a cone C in the n-dimensional Euclidean space. We reformulate this pair of conic systems as a primal-dual pair of conic programs. … Read more

A new class of potential affine algorithms for linear convex programming

We obtain a new class of primal affine algorithms for the linearly constrained convex programming. It is constructed from a family of metrics generated the r power, r>=1, of the diagonal iterate vector matrix. We obtain the so called weak convergence. That class contains, as particular cases, the multiplicative Eggermont algorithm for the minimization of … Read more

A characterization of the distance to infeasibility under block-structured perturbations

We discuss several generalizations of the classical Eckart and Young identity. We show that a natural extension of this identity holds for rectangular matrices defining conic systems of constraints, and for perturbations restricted to a particular block structure, such as those determined by a sparsity pattern. Our results extend and unify the classical Eckart and … Read more

The least-intensity feasible solution for aperture-based inverse planning in radiation therapy.

Aperture-based inverse planning (ABIP) for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning starts with external radiation fields (beams) that fully conform to the target(s) and then superimposes sub-fields called segments to achieve complex shaping of 3D dose distributions. The segments’ intensities are determined by solving a feasibility problem. The least-intensity feasible (LIF) solution, proposed and … Read more

Block-Iterative Algorithms with Underrelaxed Bregman Projections

The notion of relaxation is well understood for orthogonal projections onto convex sets. For general Bregman projections it was considered only for hyperplanes and the question of how to relax Bregman projections onto convex sets that are not linear (i.e., not hyperplanes or half-spaces) has remained open. A definition of underrelaxation of Bregman projections onto … Read more