Parallel Primal-Dual Interior-Point Methods for SemiDefinite Programs

The Semidefinite Program (SDP) is a fundamental problem in mathematical programming. It covers a wide range of applications, such as combinatorial optimization, control theory, polynomial optimization, and quantum chemistry. Solving extremely large-scale SDPs which could not be solved before is a significant work to open up a new vista of future applications of SDPs. Our … Read more

Inexact primal-dual path-following algorithms for a special class of convex quadratic SDP and related problems

We propose a primal-dual path-following Mehrotra-type predictor-corrector method for solving convex quadratic semidefinite programming (QSDP) problems. For the special case when the quadratic term has the form $\frac{1}{2} X \bul (UXU)$, we compute the search direction at each iteration from the Schur complement equation. We are able to solve the Schur complement equation efficiently via … Read more

SparsePOP : a Sparse Semidefinite Programming Relaxation of Polynomial Optimization Problems

SparesPOP is a MATLAB implementation of a sparse semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation method proposed for polynomial optimization problems (POPs) in the recent paper by Waki et al. The sparse SDP relaxation is based on a hierarchy of LMI relaxations of increasing dimensions by Lasserre, and exploits a sparsity structure of polynomials in POPs. The efficiency … Read more

Solving Large-Scale Semidefinite Programs in Parallel

We describe an approach to the parallel and distributed solution of large-scale, block structured semidefinite programs using the spectral bundle method. Various elements of this approach (such as data distribution, an implicitly restarted Lanczos method tailored to handle block diagonal structure, a mixed polyhedral-semidefinite subdifferential model, and other aspects related to parallelism) are combined in … Read more

Adaptive Barrier Strategies for Nonlinear Interior Methods

This paper considers strategies for selecting the barrier parameter at every iteration of an interior-point method for nonlinear programming. Numerical experiments suggest that adaptive choices, such as Mehrotra’s probing procedure, outperform static strategies that hold the barrier parameter fixed until a barrier optimality test is satisfied. A new adaptive strategy is proposed based on the … Read more

Packing circles in a square: new putative optima obtained via global optimization

The problem of finding the optimal placement of $N$ identical, non overlapping, circles with maximum radius in the unit square is a well known challenge both in classical geometry and in optimization. A database of putative optima is currently maintained at \url{www.packomania.com}. Recently, through clever use of an extremely simple global optimization method, we succeeded … Read more

On Augmented Lagrangian methods with general lower-level constraints

Augmented Lagrangian methods with general lower-level constraints are considered in the present research. These methods are useful when efficient algorithms exist for solving subproblems where the constraints are only of the lower-level type. Two methods of this class are introduced and analyzed. Inexact resolution of the lower-level constrained subproblems is considered. Global convergence is proved … Read more

A linear programming reformulation of the standard quadratic optimization problem

The problem of minimizing a quadratic form over the standard simplex is known as the standard quadratic optimization problem (SQO). It is NP-hard, and contains the maximum stable set problem in graphs as a special case. In this note we show that the SQO problem may be reformulated as an (exponentially sized) linear program. Citation … Read more

Semidefinite Programming Based Approaches to Home-away Assignment Problems in Sports Scheduling

For a given schedule of a round-robin tournament and a matrix of distances between homes of teams, an optimal home-away assignment problem is to find a home-away assignment that minimizes the total traveling distance. We propose a technique to transform the problem to MIN RES CUT. We apply Goemans and Williamson’s 0.878-approximation algorithm for MAX … Read more

Reduction of symmetric semidefinite programs using the regular *-representation

We consider semidefinite programming problems on which a permutation group is acting. We describe a general technique to reduce the size of such problems, exploiting the symmetry. The technique is based on a low-order matrix *-representation of the commutant (centralizer ring) of the matrix algebra generated by the permutation matrices. We apply it to extending … Read more