Perturbation Analysis of Singular Semidefinite Program and Its Application to a Control Problem

We consider the sensitivity of semidefinite programs (SDPs) under perturbations. It is well known that the optimal value changes continuously under perturbations on the right hand side in the case where the Slater condition holds in the primal problems. In this manuscript, we observe by investigating a concrete SDP that the optimal value can be … Read more

Efficient Symmetric Hessian Propagation for Direct Optimal Control

Direct optimal control algorithms first discretize the continuous-time optimal control problem and then solve the resulting finite dimensional optimization problem. If Newton type optimization algorithms are used for solving the discretized problem, accurate first as well as second order sensitivity information needs to be computed. This article develops a novel approach for computing Hessian matrices … Read more

Strong duality and sensitivity analysis in semi-infinite linear programming

Finite-dimensional linear programs satisfy strong duality (SD) and have the “dual pricing” (DP) property. The (DP) property ensures that, given a sufficiently small perturbation of the right-hand-side vector, there exists a dual solution that correctly “prices” the perturbation by computing the exact change in the optimal objective function value. These properties may fail in semi-infinite … Read more

Robust Sensitivity Analysis of the Optimal Value of Linear Programming

We propose a framework for sensitivity analysis of linear programs (LPs) in minimiza- tion form, allowing for simultaneous perturbations in the objective coefficients and right-hand sides, where the perturbations are modeled in a compact, convex uncertainty set. This framework unifies and extends multiple approaches for LP sensitivity analysis in the literature and has close ties … 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

Certificates of Optimality and Sensitivity Analysis using Generalized Subadditive Generator Functions: A test study on Knapsack Problems

We introduce a family of subadditive functions called Generator Functions for mixed integer linear programs. These functions were previously defined for pure integer programs with non-negative entries by Klabjan [13]. They are feasible in the subadditive dual and we show that they are enough to achieve strong duality. Several properties of the functions are shown. … Read more

Sensitivity analysis of semidefinite programs without strong duality

Suppose that we are given a feasible conic program with a finite optimal value and with strong duality failing. It is known that there are small perturbations of the problem data that lead to relatively big changes in the optimal value. We quantify the notion of big change in the case of a semidefinite program … Read more

Topology Optimization for Magnetic Circuits dedicated to Electric Propulsion

Abstract—In this paper, we present a method to solve inverse problems of electromagnetic circuit design which are formulated as a topology optimization problem. Indeed, by imposing the magnetic field inside a region, we search a best material distribution into variable domains. In order to perform this, we minimize the quadratic error between the prescribed magnetic … Read more

Decision Making Based on a Nonparametric Shape-Preserving Perturbation of a Reference Utility Function

This paper develops a robust optimization based decision-making framework using a nonparametric perturbation of a reference utility function. The perturbation preserves the risk-aversion property but solves the problem of ambiguity and inconsistency in eliciting the reference utility function. We study the topology of the perturbation, and show that in the decision-making framework the price of … Read more

Variational Properties of Value Functions

Regularization plays a key role in a variety of optimization formulations of inverse problems. A recurring question in regularization approaches is the selection of regularization parameters, and its effect on the solution and on the optimal value of the optimization problem. The sensitivity of the value function to the regularization parameter can be linked directly … Read more