Exploiting symmetries in SDP-relaxations for polynomial optimization

In this paper we study various approaches for exploiting symmetries in polynomial optimization problems within the framework of semi definite programming relaxations. Our special focus is on constrained problems especially when the symmetric group is acting on the variables. In particular, we investigate the concept of block decomposition within the framework of constrained polynomial optimization … Read more

Cutting planes for multi-stage stochastic integer programs

This paper addresses the problem of finding cutting planes for multi-stage stochastic integer programs. We give a general method for generating cutting planes for multi-stage stochastic integer programs based on combining inequalities that are valid for the individual scenarios. We apply the method to generate cuts for a stochastic version of a dynamic knapsack problem … Read more

Selected Topics in Robust Convex Optimization

Robust Optimization is a rapidly developing methodology for handling optimization problems affected by non-stochastic “uncertain-but-bounded” data perturbations. In this paper, we overview several selected topics in this popular area, specifically, (1) recent extensions of the basic concept of {\sl robust counterpart} of an optimization problem with uncertain data, (2) tractability of robust counterparts, (3) links … Read more

Efficient Evaluation of Polynomials and Their Partial Derivatives in Homotopy Continuation Methods

The aim of this paper is to study how efficiently we evaluate a system of multivariate polynomials and their partial derivatives in homotopy continuation methods. Our major tool is an extension of the Hornor scheme, which is popular in evaluating a univariate polynomial, to a multivariate polynomial. But the extension is not unique, and there … Read more

Correlative sparsity in primal-dual interior-point methods for LP, SDP and SOCP

Exploiting sparsity has been a key issue in solving large-scale optimization problems. The most time-consuming part of primal-dual interior-point methods for linear programs, second-order cone programs, and semidefinite programs is solving the Schur complement equation at each iteration, usually by the Cholesky factorization. The computational efficiency is greatly affected by the sparsity of the coefficient … Read more

An Approximation Algorithm for Constructing Error Detecting Prefix Codes

A $k$-bit Hamming prefix code is a binary code with the following property: for any codeword $x$ and any prefix $y$ of another codeword, both $x$ and $y$ having the same length, the Hamming distance between $x$ and $y$ is at least $k$. Given an alphabet $A = [a_1,\ldots,a_n]$ with corresponding probabilities $[p_1,\ldots,p_n]$, the $k$-bit … Read more

Modified Cholesky Algorithms: A Catalog with New Approaches

Given an n by n symmetric possibly indefinite matrix A, a modified Cholesky algorithm computes a factorization of the positive definite matrix A+E, where E is a correction matrix. Since the factorization is often used to compute a Newton-like downhill search direction for an optimization problem, the goals are to compute the modification without much … Read more

A Warm-Start Approach for Large-Scale Stochastic Linear Programs

We describe a method of generating a warm-start point for interior point methods in the context of stochastic programming. Our approach exploits the structural information of the stochastic problem so that it can be seen as a structure-exploiting initial point generator. We solve a small-scale version of the problem corresponding to a reduced event tree … Read more

On Handling Free Variables in Interior-Point Methods for Conic Linear Optimization

We revisit a regularization technique of Meszaros for handling free variables within interior-point methods for conic linear optimization. We propose a simple computational strategy, supported by a global convergence analysis, for handling the regularization. Using test problems from benchmark suites and recent applications, we demonstrate that the modern code SDPT3 modified to incorporate the proposed … Read more

A polyhedral approach to reroute sequence planning in MPLS networks

This paper is devoted to the study of the reroute sequence planning problem in multi-protocol label switching networks from the polyhedral viewpoint. The reroute sequence plan polytope, defined as the convex hull of the incidence vectors of the reroute sequences which do not violate the network link capacities, is introduced and some of its properties … Read more