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We consider the problem of approximating the solution of variational problems subject to the constraint that the admissible functions must be convex. This problem is at the interface between convex analysis, convex optimization, variational…
In the polytope membership problem, a convex polytope $K$ in $R^d$ is given, and the objective is to preprocess $K$ into a data structure so that, given a query point $q \in R^d$, it is possible to determine efficiently whether $q \in K$.…
We investigate error bounds for numerical solutions of divergence structure linear elliptic PDEs on compact manifolds without boundary. Our focus is on a class of monotone finite difference approximations, which provide a strong form of…
Let $\mathcal{H}=(V,\mathcal{E})$ be a hypergraph with maximum edge size $\ell$ and maximum degree $\Delta$. For given numbers $b_v\in \mathbb{N}_{\geq 2}$, $v\in V$, a set multicover in $\mathcal{H}$ is a set of edges $C \subseteq…
The vertex cover problem is one of the most important and intensively studied combinatorial optimization problems. Khot and Regev (2003) proved that the problem is NP-hard to approximate within a factor $2 - \epsilon$, assuming the Unique…
We consider the problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function subject to a knapsack constraint. Our main contribution is an algorithm that achieves a nearly-optimal, $1 - 1/e - \epsilon$ approximation, using…
In large-data applications, it is desirable to design algorithms with a high degree of parallelization. In the context of submodular optimization, adaptive complexity has become a widely-used measure of an algorithm's "sequentiality".…
This paper considers stochastic first-order algorithms for convex-concave minimax problems of the form $\min_{\bf x}\max_{\bf y}f(\bf x, \bf y)$, where $f$ can be presented by the average of $n$ individual components which are $L$-average…
We give a deterministic O(log n)^n algorithm for the {\em Shortest Vector Problem (SVP)} of a lattice under {\em any} norm, improving on the previous best deterministic bound of n^O(n) for general norms and nearly matching the bound of…
This paper considers an optimization problem for a dynamical system whose evolution depends on a collection of binary decision variables. We develop scalable approximation algorithms with provable suboptimality bounds to provide…
It is well-known that given a bounded, smooth nonconvex function, standard gradient-based methods can find $\epsilon$-stationary points (where the gradient norm is less than $\epsilon$) in $\mathcal{O}(1/\epsilon^2)$ iterations. However,…
In this paper, a novel technique for tight outer-approximation of the intersection region of a finite number of ellipses in 2-dimensional (2D) space is proposed. First, the vertices of a tight polygon that contains the convex intersection…
Smooth convex minimization over the unit trace-norm ball is an important optimization problem in machine learning, signal processing, statistics and other fields, that underlies many tasks in which one wishes to recover a low-rank matrix…
Convex relaxations based on different hierarchies of linear/semi-definite programs have been used recently to devise approximation algorithms for various optimization problems. The approximation guarantee of these algorithms improves with…
Some of the most fundamental and well-studied graph parameters are the Diameter (the largest shortest paths distance) and Radius (the smallest distance for which a "center" node can reach all other nodes). The natural and important…
In this paper, we compute the tightest possible bounds on the probability that the optimal value of a combinatorial optimization problem in maximization form with a random objective exceeds a given number, assuming only knowledge of the…
In this paper, we focus on solving a class of constrained non-convex non-concave saddle point problems in a decentralized manner by a group of nodes in a network. Specifically, we assume that each node has access to a summand of a global…
We present a fast algorithm for global rigid symmetry detection with approximation guarantees. The algorithm is guaranteed to find the best approximate symmetry of a given shape, to within a user-specified threshold, with very high…
We improve upon the running time for finding a point in a convex set given a separation oracle. In particular, given a separation oracle for a convex set $K\subset \mathbb{R}^n$ contained in a box of radius $R$, we show how to either find a…
Constrained non-convex optimization is fundamentally challenging, as global solutions are generally intractable and constraint qualifications may not hold. However, in many applications, including safe policy optimization in control and…