Distributionally robust optimization through the lens of submodularity

Distributionally robust optimization is used to solve decision making problems under adversarial uncertainty where the distribution of the uncertainty is itself ambiguous. In this paper, we identify a class of these instances that is solvable in polynomial time by viewing it through the lens of submodularity. We show that the sharpest upper bound on the … Read more

Exact Matrix Completion via High-Rank Matrices in Sum-of-Squares Relaxations

We study exact matrix completion from partially available data with hidden connectivity patterns. Exact matrix completion was shown to be possible recently by Cosse and Demanet in 2021 with Lasserre’s relaxation using the trace of the variable matrix as the objective function with given data structured in a chain format. In this study, we introduce … Read more

Budget-Constrained Maximization of “Cobb-Douglas with Linear Components” Utility Function

In what follows, we provide the demand analysis associated with budget-constrained linear utility maximization for each of several categories of goods, with the marginal rate of consumption expenditure-as a share of wealth- being a positive constant less than or equal to one. The marginal rate of consumption expenditure is endogenously determined, by a budget-constrained “Cobb-Douglas … Read more

Solving Nonconvex Optimization Problems using Outer Approximations of the Set-Copositive Cone

We consider the solution of nonconvex quadratic optimization problems using an outer approximation of the set-copositive cone that is iteratively strengthened with conic constraints and cutting planes. Our methodology utilizes an MILP-based oracle for a generalization of the copositive cone that considers additional linear equality constraints. In numerical testing we evaluate our algorithm on a … Read more

Semidefinite programming by Projective Cutting-Planes

\(\) Seeking tighter relaxations of combinatorial optimization problems, semidefinite programming is a generalization of linear programming that offers better bounds and is still polynomially solvable. Yet, in practice, a semidefinite program is still significantly harder to solve than a similar-size Linear Program (LP). It is well-known that a semidefinite program can be written as an … Read more

Combining Precision Boosting with LP Iterative Refinement for Exact Linear Optimization

This article studies a combination of the two state-of-the-art algorithms for the exact solution of linear programs (LPs) over the rational numbers, i.e., without any roundoff errors or numerical tolerances. By integrating the method of precision boosting inside an LP iterative refinement loop, the combined algorithm is able to leverage the strengths of both methods: … Read more

Higher-Order Newton Methods with Polynomial Work per Iteration

\(\) We present generalizations of Newton’s method that incorporate derivatives of an arbitrary order \(d\) but maintain a polynomial dependence on dimension in their cost per iteration. At each step, our \(d^{\text{th}}\)-order method uses semidefinite programming to construct and minimize a sum of squares-convex approximation to the \(d^{\text{th}}\)-order Taylor expansion of the function we wish … Read more

Exact Solutions for the NP-hard Wasserstein Barycenter Problem using a Doubly Nonnegative Relaxation and a Splitting Method

\(\) The simplified Wasserstein barycenter problem consists in selecting one point from \(k\) given sets, each set consisting of \(n\) points, with the aim of minimizing the sum of distances to the barycenter of the \(k\) points chosen. This problem is known to be NP-hard. We compute the Wasserstein barycenter by exploiting the Euclidean distance … Read more

Geometry of exactness of moment-SOS relaxations for polynomial optimization

The moment-SOS (sum of squares) hierarchy is a powerful approach for solving globally non-convex polynomial optimization problems (POPs) at the price of solving a family of convex semidefinite optimization problems (called moment-SOS relaxations) of increasing size, controlled by an integer, the relaxation order. We say that a relaxation of a given order is exact if … Read more

On Tractable Convex Relaxations of Standard Quadratic Optimization Problems under Sparsity Constraints

Standard quadratic optimization problems (StQPs) provide a versatile modelling tool in various applications. In this paper, we consider StQPs with a hard sparsity constraint, referred to as sparse StQPs. We focus on various tractable convex relaxations of sparse StQPs arising from a mixed-binary quadratic formulation, namely, the linear optimization relaxation given by the reformulation-linearization technique, … Read more