Matrix-Free Interior Point Method

In this paper we present a redesign of a linear algebra kernel of an interior point method to avoid the explicit use of problem matrices. The only access to the original problem data needed are the matrix-vector multiplications with the Hessian and Jacobian matrices. Such a redesign requires the use of suitably preconditioned iterative methods … Read more

Smoothing techniques for solving semidefinite programs with many constraints

We use smoothing techniques to solve approximately mildly structured semidefinite programs with many constraints. As smoothing techniques require a specific problem format, we introduce an alternative problem formulation that fulfills the structural assumptions. The resulting algorithm has a complexity that depends linearly both on the number of constraints and on the inverse of the accuracy. … Read more

Solving log-determinant optimization problems by a Newton-CG primal proximal point algorithm

We propose a Newton-CG primal proximal point algorithm for solving large scale log-determinant optimization problems. Our algorithm employs the essential ideas of the proximal point algorithm, the Newton method and the preconditioned conjugate gradient solver. When applying the Newton method to solve the inner sub-problem, we find that the log-determinant term plays the role of … Read more

Improved semidefinite programming bounds for quadratic assignment problems with suitable symmetry

Semidefinite programming (SDP) bounds for the quadratic assignment problem (QAP) were introduced in: [Q. Zhao, S.E. Karisch, F. Rendl, and H. Wolkowicz. Semidefinite Programming Relaxations for the Quadratic Assignment Problem. Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, 2,71–109, 1998.] Empirically, these bounds are often quite good in practice, but computationally demanding, even for relatively small instances. For QAP … Read more

A Comparison of Lower Bounds for the Symmetric Circulant Traveling Salesman Problem

When the matrix of distances between cities is symmetric and circulant, the traveling salesman problem (TSP) reduces to the so-called symmetric circulant traveling salesman problem (SCTSP), that has applications in the design of reconfigurable networks, and in minimizing wallpaper waste. The complexity of the SCTSP is open, but conjectured to be NP-hard, and we compare … Read more

On the Central Paths and Cauchy Trajectories in Semidefinite Programming

In this work, we study the properties of central paths, defined with respect to a large class of penalty and barrier functions, for convex semidefinite programs. The type of programs studied here is characterized by the minimization of a smooth and convex objective function subject to a linear matrix inequality constraint. So, it is a … Read more

Building a completely positive factorization

Using a bordering approach, and building upon an already known factorization of a principal block, we establish sufficient conditions under which we can extend this factorization to the full matrix. Simulations show that the approach is promising also in higher dimensions. Citation Preprint, Univ.of Vienna (2017), submitted Article Download View Building a completely positive factorization

A new LP algorithm for precedence constrained production scheduling

We present a number of new algorithmic ideas for solving LP relaxations of extremely large precedence constrained production scheduling problems. These ideas are used to develop an implementation that is tested on a variety of real-life, large scale instances; yielding optimal solutions in very practicable CPU time. Citation Unpublished. Columbia University, BHP Billiton, August 2009. … Read more

Arc-Search Path-Following Interior-Point Algorithms for Linear Programming

Arc-search is developed in optimization algorithms. In this paper, simple analytic arcs are used to approximate the central path of the linear programming. The primal-dual path-following interior-point method is then used to search optimizers along the arcs for linear programming. They require fewer iterations to find the optimal solutions in all the tested problems in … Read more

A note on Burer’s copositive representation of mixed-binary QPs

In an important paper, Burer recently showed how to reformulate general mixed-binary quadratic optimization problems (QPs) into copositive programs where a linear functional is minimized over a linearly constrained subset of the cone of completely positive matrices. In this note we interpret the implication from a topological point of view, showing that the Minkowski sum … Read more