Related papers: Nonlinear optimization for matroid intersection an…
We look at a stochastic time-varying optimization problem and we formulate online algorithms to find and track its optimizers in expectation. The algorithms are derived from the intuition that standard prediction and correction steps can be…
We propose a general technique for improving alternating optimization (AO) of nonconvex functions. Starting from the solution given by AO, we conduct another sequence of searches over subspaces that are both meaningful to the optimization…
Submodular continuous functions are a category of (generally) non-convex/non-concave functions with a wide spectrum of applications. We characterize these functions and demonstrate that they can be maximized efficiently with approximation…
This paper proposes an algorithm for solving structured optimization problems, which covers both the backward-backward and the Douglas-Rachford algorithms as special cases, and analyzes its convergence. The set of fixed points of the…
We consider fast algorithms for monotone submodular maximization subject to a matroid constraint. We assume that the matroid is given as input in an explicit form, and the goal is to obtain the best possible running times for important…
Optimizing non-convex functions is a fundamental challenge across machine learning and combinatorial optimization. We introduce and study $\gamma$-weakly $\theta$-up-concavity, a novel first-order condition that characterizes a broad class…
Optimization models with non-convex constraints arise in many tasks in machine learning, e.g., learning with fairness constraints or Neyman-Pearson classification with non-convex loss. Although many efficient methods have been developed…
For a matrix $W \in \mathbb{Z}^{m \times n}$, $m \leq n$, and a convex function $g: \mathbb{R}^m \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, we are interested in minimizing $f(x) = g(Wx)$ over the set $\{0,1\}^n$. We will study separable convex functions and…
We consider a problem of optimizing convex functionals over matroid bases. It is richly expressive and captures certain quadratic assignment and clustering problems. While generally NP-hard, we show it is polynomial time solvable when a…
Derivative-free optimization (DFO) is the mathematical study of the optimization algorithms that do not use derivatives. One branch of DFO focuses on model-based DFO methods, where an approximation of the objective function is used to guide…
When considering an unconstrained minimization problem, a standard approach is to solve the optimality system with a Newton method possibly preconditioned by, e.g., nonlinear elimination. In this contribution, we argue that nonlinear…
Non-convex optimization plays a key role in a growing number of machine learning applications. This motivates the identification of specialized structure that enables sharper theoretical analysis. One such identified structure is…
Optimization of frame structures is formulated as a~non-convex optimization problem, which is currently solved to local optimality. In this contribution, we investigate four optimization approaches: (i) general non-linear optimization, (ii)…
Matrix factorization is a popular approach for large-scale matrix completion. The optimization formulation based on matrix factorization can be solved very efficiently by standard algorithms in practice. However, due to the non-convexity…
We provide a minimax optimal estimation procedure for F and W in matrix valued linear models Y = F W + Z where the parameter matrix W and the design matrix F are unknown but the latter takes values in a known finite set. The proposed finite…
We propose a general theory for studying the \xl{landscape} of nonconvex \xl{optimization} with underlying symmetric structures \tz{for a class of machine learning problems (e.g., low-rank matrix factorization, phase retrieval, and deep…
The control and sensing of large-scale systems results in combinatorial problems not only for sensor and actuator placement but also for scheduling or observability/controllability. Such combinatorial constraints in system design and…
We consider the minimization of submodular functions subject to ordering constraints. We show that this optimization problem can be cast as a convex optimization problem on a space of uni-dimensional measures, with ordering constraints…
We consider minimization of composite functions of the form $f(g(x))+h(x)$, where $f$ and $h$ are convex functions (which can be nonsmooth) and $g$ is a smooth vector mapping. In addition, we assume that $g$ is the average of finite number…
Non-negative matrix and tensor factorisations are a classical tool for finding low-dimensional representations of high-dimensional datasets. In applications such as imaging, datasets can be regarded as distributions supported on a space…