Stability Analysis for a Class of Sparse Optimization Problems

The sparse optimization problems arise in many areas of science and engineering, such as compressed sensing, image processing, statistical and machine learning. The $\ell_{0}$-minimization problem is one of such optimization problems, which is typically used to deal with signal recovery. The $\ell_{1}$-minimization method is one of the plausible approaches for solving the $\ell_{0}$-minimization problems, and … Read more

A convex relaxation to compute the nearest structured rank deficient matrix

Given an affine space of matrices L and a matrix \theta in L, consider the problem of finding the closest rank deficient matrix to \theta on L with respect to the Frobenius norm. This is a nonconvex problem with several applications in estimation problems. We introduce a novel semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation, and we show … Read more

Convergence analysis of a Lasserre hierarchy of upper bounds for polynomial minimization on the sphere

We study the convergence rate of a hierarchy of upper bounds for polynomial minimization prob-lems, proposed by Lasserre [SIAM J. Optim.21(3) (2011), pp.864-885], for the special case when the feasible set is the unit (hyper)sphere. The upper bound at level r of the hierarchy is defined as the minimal expected value of the polynomial over … Read more

Self-Concordance and Matrix Monotonicity with Applications to Quantum Entanglement Problems

Let $V$ be an Euclidean Jordan algebra and $\Omega$ be a cone of invertible squares in $V$. Suppose that $g:\mathbb{R}_{+} \to \mathbb{R}$ is a matrix monotone function on the positive semiaxis which naturally induces a function $\tilde{g}: \Omega \to V$. We show that $-\tilde{g}$ is compatible (in the sense of Nesterov-Nemirovski) with the standard self-concordant … Read more

Burer-Monteiro guarantees for general semidefinite programs

Consider a semidefinite program (SDP) involving an $n\times n$ positive semidefinite matrix $X$. The Burer-Monteiro method consists in solving a nonconvex program in $Y$, where $Y$ is an $n\times p$ matrix such that $X = Y Y^T$. Despite nonconvexity, Boumal et al. showed that the method provably solves generic equality-constrained SDP’s when $p > \sqrt{2m}$, … Read more

Lower Bounds for the Bandwidth Problem

The Bandwidth Problem asks for a simultaneous permutation of the rows and columns of the adjacency matrix of a graph such that all nonzero entries are as close as possible to the main diagonal. This work focuses on investigating novel approaches to obtain lower bounds for the bandwidth problem. In particular, we use vertex partitions … Read more

Noisy Euclidean Distance Matrix Completion with a Single Missing Node

We present several solution techniques for the noisy single source localization problem, i.e.,~the Euclidean distance matrix completion problem with a single missing node to locate under noisy data. For the case that the sensor locations are fixed, we show that this problem is implicitly convex, and we provide a purification algorithm along with the SDP … Read more

Logarithmic-Barrier Decomposition Interior-Point Methods for Stochastic Linear Optimization in a Hilbert Space

Several logarithmic-barrier interior-point methods are now available for solving two-stage stochastic optimization problems with recourse in the finite-dimensional setting. However, despite the genuine need for studying such methods in general spaces, there are no infinite-dimensional analogs of these methods. Inspired by this evident gap in the literature, in this paper, we propose logarithmic-barrier decomposition-based interior-point … Read more

Tractable semi-algebraic approximation using Christoffel-Darboux kernel

We provide a new method to approximate a (possibly discontinuous) function using Christoffel-Darboux kernels. Our knowledge about the unknown multivariate function is in terms of finitely many moments of the Young measure supported on the graph of the function. Such an input is available when approximating weak (or measure-valued) solution of optimal control problems, entropy … Read more

An Augmented Lagrangian algorithm for nonlinear semidefinite programming applied to the covering problem

In this work we present an Augmented Lagrangian algorithm for nonlinear semidefinite problems (NLSDPs), which is a natural extension of its consolidated counterpart in nonlinear programming. This method works with two levels of constraints; one that is penalized and other that is kept within the subproblems. This is done in order to allow exploiting the … Read more