Detailed modeling of gas transport problems leads to nonlinear and nonconvex mixed-integer optimization or feasibility models (MINLPs) because both the incorporation of discrete controls of the network as well as accurate physical and technical modeling is required in order to achieve practical solutions. Hence, ignoring certain parts of the physics model is not valid for … Read more
We study derivative-free constrained optimization problems and propose a trust-region method that builds linear or quadratic models around the best feasible and and around the best infeasible solutions found so far. These models are optimized within a trust region, and the progressive barrier methodology handles the constraints by progressively pushing the infeasible solutions toward the … Read more
In this paper we deal with optimality conditions that can be verified by a nonlinear optimization algorithm, where only a single Lagrange multiplier is avaliable. In particular, we deal with a conjecture formulated in [R. Andreani, J.M. Martinez, M.L. Schuverdt, “On second-order optimality conditions for nonlinear programming”, Optimization, 56:529–542, 2007], which states that whenever a … Read more
The interval Distance Geometry Problem (iDGP) consists in finding a realization in R^K of a simple undirected graph G=(V,E) with nonnegative intervals assigned to the edges in such a way that, for each edge, the Euclidean distance between the realization of the adjacent vertices is within the edge interval bounds. Our aim is to determine … Read more
We investigate surrogate-assisted strategies for derivative-free optimization using the mesh adaptive direct search (MADS) blackbox optimization algorithm. In particular, we build an ensemble of surrogate models to be used within the search step of MADS, and examine different methods for selecting the best model for a given problem at hand. To do so, we introduce … Read more
In constrained nonlinear optimization, the squared slack variables can be used to transform a problem with inequality constraints into a problem containing only equality constraints. This reformulation is usually not considered in the modern literature, mainly because of possible numerical instabilities. However, this argument only concerns the development of algorithms, and nothing stops us in … Read more
Triggered by Burer’s seminal characterization from 2009, many copositive (CP) reformulations of mixed-binary QPs have been discussed by now. Most of them can be used as proper relaxations, if the intractable co(mpletely )positive cones are replaced by tractable approximations. While the widely used approximation hierarchies have the disadvantage to use positive-semidefinite (psd) matrices of orders … Read more
A framework, PhaseLift, was recently proposed to solve the phase retrieval problem. In this framework, the problem is solved by optimizing a cost function over the set of complex Hermitian positive semidefinite matrices. This approach to phase retrieval motivates a more general consideration of optimizing cost functions on semidefinite Hermitian matrices where the desired minimizers … Read more
Mathematical programs with equilibrium (or complementarity) constraints, MPECs for short, are a difficult class of constrained optimization problems. The feasible set has a very special structure and violates most of the standard constraint qualifications (CQs). Thus, the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions are not necessarily satisfied by minimizers and the convergence assumptions of many methods for solving … Read more
Most path-following algorithms for tracing a solution path of a parametric nonlinear optimization problem are only certifiably convergent under strong regularity assumptions about the problem functions, in particular, the linear independence of the constraint gradients at the solutions, which implies a unique multiplier solution for every nonlinear program. In this paper we propose and prove … Read more