This paper focuses on the design of sequential quadratic optimization (commonly known as SQP) methods for solving large-scale nonlinear optimization problems. The most computationally demanding aspect of such an approach is the computation of the search direction during each iteration, for which we consider the use of matrix-free methods. In particular, we develop a method … Read more
We propose an expansion of the scope of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Specifically, we show that ADMM, when employed to solve problems with multiaffine constraints that satisfy certain easily verifiable assumptions, converges to the set of constrained stationary points if the penalty parameter in the augmented Lagrangian is sufficiently large. When the … Read more
Concise complexity analyses are presented for simple trust region algorithms for solving unconstrained optimization problems. In contrast to a traditional trust region algorithm, the algorithms considered in this paper require certain control over the choice of trust region radius after any successful iteration. The analyses highlight the essential algorithm components required to obtain certain complexity … Read more
A strategy is proposed for characterizing the worst-case performance of algorithms for solving nonconvex smooth optimization problems. Contemporary analyses characterize worst-case performance by providing, under certain assumptions on an objective function, an upper bound on the number of iterations (or function or derivative evaluations) required until a pth-order stationarity condition is approximately satisfied. This arguably … Read more
In this paper we present and discuss new constraint qualifications to ensure the validity of well known second-order properties in nonlinear optimization. Here, we discuss conditions related to the so-called basic second-order condition, where a new notion of polar pairing is introduced in order to replace the polar operation, useful in the first-order case. We … Read more
An algorithm framework is proposed for minimizing nonsmooth functions. The framework is variable-metric in that, in each iteration, a step is computed using a symmetric positive definite matrix whose value is updated as in a quasi-Newton scheme. However, unlike previously proposed variable-metric algorithms for minimizing nonsmooth functions, the framework exploits self-correcting properties made possible through … Read more
An algorithm for solving smooth nonconvex optimization problems is proposed that, in the worst-case, takes $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-3/2})$ iterations to drive the norm of the gradient of the objective function below a prescribed positive real number $\epsilon$ and can take $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-3})$ iterations to drive the leftmost eigenvalue of the Hessian of the objective above $-\epsilon$. The proposed … Read more
We propose a sigmoidal approximation (SigVaR) for the value-at-risk (VaR) and we use this approximation to tackle nonlinear programming problems (NLPs) with chance constraints. We prove that the approximation is conservative and that the level of conservatism can be made arbitrarily small for limiting parameter values. The SigVar approximation brings computational benefits over exact mixed-integer … Read more
This paper analyzes sequences generated by infeasible interior point methods. In convex and non-convex settings, we prove that moving the primal feasibility at the same rate as complementarity will ensure that the Lagrange multiplier sequence will remain bounded, provided the limit point of the primal sequence has a Lagrange multiplier, without constraint qualification assumptions. We … Read more
Adaptive regularized framework using cubics has emerged as an alternative to line-search and trust-region algorithms for smooth nonconvex optimization, with an optimal complexity amongst second-order methods. In this paper, we propose and analyze the use of an iteration dependent scaled norm in the adaptive regularized framework using cubics. Within such scaled norm, the obtained method … Read more