English

Non-geodesically-convex optimization in the Wasserstein space

Optimization and Control 2025-01-08 v3 Machine Learning

Abstract

We study a class of optimization problems in the Wasserstein space (the space of probability measures) where the objective function is nonconvex along generalized geodesics. Specifically, the objective exhibits some difference-of-convex structure along these geodesics. The setting also encompasses sampling problems where the logarithm of the target distribution is difference-of-convex. We derive multiple convergence insights for a novel semi Forward-Backward Euler scheme under several nonconvex (and possibly nonsmooth) regimes. Notably, the semi Forward-Backward Euler is just a slight modification of the Forward-Backward Euler whose convergence is -- to our knowledge -- still unknown in our very general non-geodesically-convex setting.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.00502,
  title  = {Non-geodesically-convex optimization in the Wasserstein space},
  author = {Hoang Phuc Hau Luu and Hanlin Yu and Bernardo Williams and Petrus Mikkola and Marcelo Hartmann and Kai Puolamäki and Arto Klami},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.00502},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:49:42.098Z