Global convergence of a derivative-free inexact restoration filter algorithm for nonlinear programming

In this work we present an algorithm for solving constrained optimization problems that does not make explicit use of the objective function derivatives. The algorithm mixes an inexact restoration framework with filter techniques, where the forbidden regions can be given by the flat or slanting filter rule. Each iteration is decomposed in two independent phases: … Read more

A special case of the generalized pooling problem arising in the mining industry

Iron ore and coal are substantial contributors to Australia’s export economy. Both are blended products that are made-to-order according to customers’ desired product qualities. Mining companies have a great interest in meeting these target qualities since deviations generally result in contractually agreed penalties. This paper studies a variation of the generalized pooling problem (GPP) arising … Read more

Penalty PALM Method for Cardinality Constrained Portfolio Selection Problems

For reducing costs of market frictions, investors need to build a small-scale portfolio by solving a cardinality constrained portfolio selection problem which is NP-hard in general and not easy to be solved eciently for a large-scale problem. In this paper, we propose a penalty proximal alternat- ing linearized minimization method for the large-scale problems in … Read more

Nonlinear Programming Strategies on High-Performance Computers

We discuss structured nonlinear programming problems arising in control applications, and we review software and hardware capabilities that enable the efficient exploitation of such structures. We focus on linear algebra parallelization strategies and discuss how these interact and influence high-level algorithmic design elements required to enforce global convergence and deal with negative curvature in a … Read more

New multi-commodity flow formulations for the pooling problem

The pooling problem is a nonconvex nonlinear programming problem with numerous applications. The nonlinearities of the problem arise from bilinear constraints that capture the blending of raw materials. Bilinear constraints are well-studied and significant progress has been made in solving large instances of the pooling problem to global optimality. This is due in no small … Read more

Generic properties for semialgebraic programs

In this paper we study genericity for the following parameterized class of nonlinear programs: \begin{eqnarray*} \textrm{minimize } f_u(x) := f(x) – \langle u, x \rangle \quad \textrm{subject to } \quad x \in S, \end{eqnarray*} where $f \colon \mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is a polynomial function and $S \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ is a closed semialgebraic set, which is … Read more

Stability and genericity for semi-algebraic compact programs

In this paper we consider the class of polynomial optimization problems with inequality and equality constraints, in which every problem of the class is obtained by perturbations of the objective function, while the constraint functions are kept fixed. Under certain assumptions, we establish some stability properties (e.g., strong H\”older stability with explicitly determined exponents, semicontinuity, … Read more

A Theoretical and Algorithmic Characterization of Bulge Knees

This paper deals with the problem of finding convex bulges on the Pareto-front of a multi-objective optimization problem. The point of maximum bulge is of particular interest as this point shows good trade-off properties and it is also close to the non-attainable utopia point. Our approach is to use a population based algorithm to simultaneously … Read more

A second-order sequential optimality condition associated to the convergence of optimization algorithms

Sequential optimality conditions have recently played an important role on the analysis of the global convergence of optimization algorithms towards first-order stationary points and justifying their stopping criteria. In this paper we introduce the first sequential optimality condition that takes into account second-order information. We also present a companion constraint qualification that is less stringent … Read more

A proximal gradient method for ensemble density functional theory

The ensemble density functional theory is valuable for simulations of metallic systems due to the absence of a gap in the spectrum of the Hamiltonian matrices. Although the widely used self-consistent field iteration method can be extended to solve the minimization of the total energy functional with respect to orthogonality constraints, there is no theoretical … Read more