Geodesic metric spaces support a variety of averaging constructions for given finite sets. Computing such averages has generated extensive interest in diverse disciplines. Here we consider the inverse problem of recognizing computationally whether or not a given point is such an average, exactly or approximately. In nonpositively curved spaces, several averaging notions, including the usual … Read more
We consider solving huge-scale instances of (convex) conic linear optimization problems, at the scale where matrix-factorization-free methods are attractive or necessary. The restarted primal-dual hybrid gradient method (rPDHG) — with heuristic enhancements and GPU implementation — has been very successful in solving huge-scale linear programming (LP) problems; however its application to more general conic convex … Read more
Goldstein’s 1977 idealized iteration for minimizing a Lipschitz objective fixes a distance – the step size – and relies on a certain approximate subgradient. That “Goldstein subgradient” is the shortest convex combination of objective gradients at points within that distance of the current iterate. A recent implementable Goldstein-style algorithm allows a remarkable complexity analysis (Zhang … Read more
We consider geodesically convex optimization problems involving distances to a finite set of points A in a CAT(0) cubical complex. Examples include the minimum enclosing ball problem, the weighted mean and median problems, and the feasibility and projection problems for intersecting balls with centers in A. We propose a decomposition approach relying on standard Euclidean … Read more
In nonsmooth, nonconvex stochastic optimization, understanding the uniform convergence of subdifferential mappings is crucial for analyzing stationary points of sample average approximations of risk as they approach the population risk. Yet, characterizing this convergence remains a fundamental challenge. This work introduces a novel perspective by connecting the uniform convergence of subdifferential mappings to that of subgradient … Read more
In this paper we propose an approach for solving systems of nonlinear equations without computing function derivatives. Motivated by the application area of tomographic absorption spectroscopy, which is a highly-nonlinear problem with variables coupling, we consider a situation where straightforward translation to a fixed point problem is not possible because the operators that represent the … Read more
We analyze the Douglas-Rachford splitting method for weakly convex optimization problems, by the token of the Douglas-Rachford envelope, a merit function akin to the Moreau envelope. First, we use epi-convergence techniques to show that this artifact approximates the original objective function via epigraphs. Secondly, we present how global convergence and local linear convergence rates for … Read more
In the classical best approximation pair (BAP) problem, one is given two nonempty, closed, convex and disjoint subsets in a finite- or an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, and the goal is to find a pair of points, each from each subset, which realizes the distance between the subsets. This problem, which has a long history, has … Read more
We prove new convergence rates for a generalized version of stochastic Nesterov acceleration under interpolation conditions. Unlike previous analyses, our approach accelerates any stochastic gradient method which makes sufficient progress in expectation. The proof, which proceeds using the estimating sequences framework, applies to both convex and strongly convex functions and is easily specialized to accelerated … Read more
To explore convex optimization on Hadamard spaces, we consider an iteration in the style of a subgradient algorithm. Traditionally, such methods assume that the underlying spaces are manifolds and that the objectives are geodesically convex: the methods are described using tangent spaces and exponential maps. By contrast, our iteration applies in a general Hadamard space, … Read more