Related papers: Stability and instability in saddle point dynamics…
We study the iteration complexity of the optimistic gradient descent-ascent (OGDA) method and the extra-gradient (EG) method for finding a saddle point of a convex-concave unconstrained min-max problem. To do so, we first show that both…
The Primal-Dual (PD) algorithm is widely used in convex optimization to determine saddle points. While the stability of the PD algorithm can be easily guaranteed, strict contraction is nontrivial to establish in most cases. This work…
We consider strongly-convex-strongly-concave saddle point problems assuming we have access to unbiased stochastic estimates of the gradients. We propose a stochastic accelerated primal-dual (SAPD) algorithm and show that SAPD sequence,…
Many machine learning problems can be formulated as minimax problems such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), AUC maximization and robust estimation, to mention but a few. A substantial amount of studies are devoted to studying the…
In non-smooth stochastic optimization, we establish the non-convergence of the stochastic subgradient descent (SGD) to the critical points recently called active strict saddles by Davis and Drusvyatskiy. Such points lie on a manifold $M$…
We study the convex-concave bilinear saddle-point problem $\min_x \max_y f(x) + y^\top Ax - g(y)$, where both, only one, or none of the functions $f$ and $g$ are strongly convex, and suitable rank conditions on the matrix $A$ hold. The…
Nonconvex optimization underlies many modern machine learning and control tasks, where saddle points pose the dominant obstacle to reliable convergence in high-dimensional settings. Escaping these saddle points deterministically using…
Stochastically controlled stochastic gradient (SCSG) methods have been proved to converge efficiently to first-order stationary points which, however, can be saddle points in nonconvex optimization. It has been observed that a stochastic…
In this note, we consider the Optimistic Gradient Ascent-Proximal Point Algorithm (OGAProx) proposed by Bo{\c{t}}, Csetnek, and Sedlmayer for solving a saddle-point problem associated with a convex-concave function constructed by a…
Given a non-convex twice differentiable cost function f, we prove that the set of initial conditions so that gradient descent converges to saddle points where \nabla^2 f has at least one strictly negative eigenvalue has (Lebesgue) measure…
Using convex combination and linesearch techniques, we introduce a novel primal-dual algorithm for solving structured convex-concave saddle point problems with a generic smooth nonbilinear coupling term. Our adaptive linesearch strategy…
We consider the problem of finding a saddle point for the convex-concave objective $\min_x \max_y f(x) + \langle Ax, y\rangle - g^*(y)$, where $f$ is a convex function with locally Lipschitz gradient and $g$ is convex and possibly…
This paper considers the problem of designing accelerated gradient-based algorithms for optimization and saddle-point problems. The class of objective functions is defined by a generalized sector condition. This class of functions contains…
Saddle-point models arise throughout optimization, optimal transport, robust learning, and control. In many applications, the relevant function f(x,y) is convex in x and concave in y, and preserving this geometry is essential for obtaining…
In this paper, we consider first-order convergence theory and algorithms for solving a class of non-convex non-concave min-max saddle-point problems, whose objective function is weakly convex in the variables of minimization and weakly…
Stochastic gradient descent is the method of choice for large scale optimization of machine learning objective functions. Yet, its performance is greatly variable and heavily depends on the choice of the stepsizes. This has motivated a…
This paper introduces a class of two-stage stochastic minimax problems where the first-stage objective function is nonconvex-concave while the second-stage objective function is strongly convex-concave. We establish properties of the…
Our work is part of the close link between continuous-time dissipative dynamical systems and optimization algorithms, and more precisely here, in the stochastic setting. We aim to study stochastic convex minimization problems through the…
We study the stable behaviour of discrete dynamical systems where the map is convex and monotone with respect to the standard positive cone. The notion of tangential stability for fixed points and periodic points is introduced, which is…
We examine the behavior of accelerated gradient methods in smooth nonconvex unconstrained optimization, focusing in particular on their behavior near strict saddle points. Accelerated methods are iterative methods that typically step along…