Related papers: A Derivative-Free CoMirror Algorithm
In this paper, we consider the problem of black box continuous submodular maximization where we only have access to the function values and no information about the derivatives is provided. For a monotone and continuous DR-submodular…
Derivative-Free optimization (DFO) focuses on designing methods to solve optimization problems without the analytical knowledge of gradients of the objective function. There are two main families of DFO methods: model-based methods and…
In this paper, we propose and analyse a family of generalised stochastic composite mirror descent algorithms. With adaptive step sizes, the proposed algorithms converge without requiring prior knowledge of the problem. Combined with an…
Derivative-free optimization algorithms are particularly useful for tackling blackbox optimization problems where the objective function arises from complex and expensive procedures that preclude the use of classical gradient-based methods.…
We consider derivative-free algorithms for stochastic and non-stochastic convex optimization problems that use only function values rather than gradients. Focusing on non-asymptotic bounds on convergence rates, we show that if pairs of…
This paper considers non-smooth optimization problems where we seek to minimize the pointwise maximum of a continuously parameterized family of functions. Since the objective function is given as the solution to a maximization problem,…
In this work, we are concerned with the decentralized optimization problem: \begin{equation*} \min_{x \in \Omega}~f(x) = \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1}^n f_i (x), \end{equation*} where $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ is a convex domain and each $f_i…
We investigate the convergence properties of a class of iterative algorithms designed to minimize a potentially non-smooth and noisy objective function, which may be algebraically intractable and whose values may be obtained as the output…
A new universal derivative-free optimization method CDOS (Conjugate Direction with Orthogonal Shift) is proposed. The CDOS method was specially developed to solve optimization tasks where the objective function and constraints are black…
This paper addresses constrained smooth saddle-point problems in settings where projection onto the feasible sets is computationally expensive. We bridge the gap between projection-based and projection-free optimization by introducing a…
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 provide new insight into a {\em generalized conditional subgradient} algorithm and a {\em generalized mirror descent} algorithm for the convex minimization problem \[ \min_x \; \{f(Ax) + h(x)\}.\] As Bach showed in [{\em SIAM J. Optim.},…
This paper considers the efficient minimization of the infinite time average of a stationary ergodic process in the space of a handful of design parameters which affect it. Problems of this class, derived from physical or numerical…
We propose a Parameter-Free Universal Gradient Sliding (PFUGS) algorithm for computing an approximate solution to the convex composite optimization $\min_{x\in X} \{f(x) + g(x)\}$, where $f$ has $(M_\nu,\nu)$-H\"older continuous subgradient…
We consider the problem of minimizing a high-dimensional objective function, which may include a regularization term, using (possibly noisy) evaluations of the function. Such optimization is also called derivative-free, zeroth-order, or…
In this work, multi-variable derivative-free optimization algorithms for unconstrained optimization problems are developed. A novel procedure for approximating the gradient of multi-variable objective functions based on non-commutative maps…
In this paper, a gradient-free distributed algorithm is introduced to solve a set constrained optimization problem under a directed communication network. Specifically, at each time-step, the agents locally compute a so-called…
In this paper, we focus on solving a distributed convex aggregative optimization problem in a network, where each agent has its own cost function which depends not only on its own decision variables but also on the aggregated function of…
We present DFO-GN, a derivative-free version of the Gauss-Newton method for solving nonlinear least-squares problems. As is common in derivative-free optimization, DFO-GN uses interpolation of function values to build a model of the…
Model-based derivative-free optimization (DFO) methods are an important class of DFO methods that are known to struggle with solving high-dimensional optimization problems. Recent research has shown that incorporating random subspaces into…