Multi-Leader Single-Follower Power-Market Modeling: The Impact of DC Market-Clearing on AC Feasibility

We study the impact of DC power flow modeling in multi-leader single-follower market models on the AC feasibility of the market outcome. To this end, we consider strategically bidding power producers that are connected to an electricity network and a market-clearing executed by an ISO. The focus is on a pay-as-bid electricity market in which … Read more

An Inexact Trust-Region Method for Structured Nonsmooth Optimization with Application to Risk-Averse Stochastic Programming

We develop a trust-region method for efficiently minimizing the sum of a smooth function, a nonsmooth convex function, and the composition of a finite-valued support function with a smooth function. Optimization problems with this structure arise in numerous applications including risk-averse stochastic programming and subproblems for nonsmooth penalty nonlinear programming methods. Our method permits the … Read more

Distributionally Robust Chance-Constrained Optimal Load Shedding Model for Active Distribution Networks Based on KDE

With the high penetration of distributed energy resources in active distribution networks(ADNs), forecast errors from renewables and loads pose significant risks of bilateral violations, including overvoltage/undervoltage and line overloads. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a KDE-DRCCO model that integrates kernel density estimation (KDE) with distributionally robust chance-constrained optimization (DRCCO). Leveraging the radial topology … Read more

Speeding Up Mixed-Integer Programming Solvers with Sparse Learning for Branching

Machine learning is increasingly used to improve decisions within branch-and-bound algorithms for mixed-integer programming. Many existing approaches rely on deep learning, which often requires very large training datasets and substantial computational resources for both training and deployment, typically with GPU parallelization. In this work, we take a different path by developing interpretable models that are … Read more

On the Single-Multi-Commodity Gap: Lifting Single- to Multicommodity Flow Instances

Benchmark instances for multicommodity flow problems frequently lack the structural nuances of real-world networks or fail to maintain a rigorous mathematical relationship with their single-commodity counterparts. This paper introduces a formal meta-generation framework that addresses these limitations by lifting single-commodity minimum-cost flow instances into the multicommodity space while strictly preserving the underlying network topology, capacity … Read more

A flexible block coordinate descent method for unconstrained optimization under Hölder continuity

In this work, we propose a flexible block coordinate method for unconstrained optimization problems under Hölder continuity assumptions. The method guarantees convergence to stationary points and has worst-case complexity results comparable to those obtained by single-block methods that assume Lipschitz or Hölder continuity. The approach is based on quadratic models of the objective function combined … Read more

Adaptive Newton-CG methods with global and local analysis for unconstrained optimization with Hölder continuous Hessian

In this paper, we study Newton-conjugate gradient (Newton-CG) methods for minimizing a nonconvex function $f$ whose Hessian is $(H_f,\nu)$-H\”older continuous with modulus $H_f>0$ and exponent \(\nu\in(0,1]\). Recently proposed Newton-CG methods for this problem \cite{he2025newton} adopt (i) non-adaptive regularization and (ii) a nested line-search procedure, where (i) often leads to inefficient early progress and the loss … Read more

Separable QCQPs and Their Exact SDP Relaxations

This paper studies exact semidefinite programming relaxations (SDPRs) for separable quadratically constrained quadratic programs (QCQPs). We consider the construction of a larger separable QCQP from multiple QCQPs with exact SDPRs. We show that exactness is preserved when such QCQPs are combined through a separable horizontal connection, where the coupling is induced through the right-hand-side parameters … Read more

On vehicle routing problems with stochastic demands — Scenario-optimal recourse policies

Two-Stage Vehicle Routing Problems with Stochastic Demands (VRPSDs) form a class of stochastic combinatorial optimization problems where routes are planned in advance, demands are revealed upon vehicle arrival, and recourse actions are triggered whenever capacity is exceeded. Following recent works, we consider VRPSDs where demands are given by an empirical probability distribution of scenarios. Existing … Read more

Sequential Nonlinear-Programming Approach to Thermal-Aware VLSI Floorplanning using Multi-boundary Shapes

In this paper we develop and implement sequential nonlinear-programming methods for solving the thermal-aware soft-macro VLSI floorplanning problem with IO-block placement and a dynamic floorplan-boundary.  We develop a multi-stage nonlinear-programming approach to this floorplanning problem.   We break the floorplanning process into two main stages, a simplified first-stage, which omits any consideration of the floorplan boundary … Read more