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We study distributed big-data nonconvex optimization in multi-agent networks. We consider the (constrained) minimization of the sum of a smooth (possibly) nonconvex function, i.e., the agents' sum-utility, plus a convex (possibly) nonsmooth…
This paper is devoted to the distributed continuous-time optimization problem with time-varying objective functions and time-varying nonlinear inequality constraints. Different from most studied distributed optimization problems with…
We study a variant of a recently introduced min-max optimization framework where the max-player is constrained to update its parameters in a greedy manner until it reaches a first-order stationary point. Our equilibrium definition for this…
Classical optimization is a cornerstone of the success of variational quantum algorithms, which often require determining the derivatives of the cost function relative to variational parameters. The computation of the cost function and its…
In this paper, we consider a class of stochastic optimal control problems with risk constraints that are expressed as bounded probabilities of failure for particular initial states. We present here a martingale approach that diffuses a risk…
We propose a machine learning algorithm for solving finite-horizon stochastic control problems based on a deep neural network representation of the optimal policy functions. The algorithm has three features: (1) It can solve…
This article presents a constrained policy optimization approach for the optimal control of systems under nonstationary uncertainties. We introduce an assumption that we call Markov embeddability that allows us to cast the stochastic…
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…
Motivated by emerging applications in machine learning, we consider an optimization problem in a general form where the gradient of the objective function is available through a biased stochastic oracle. We assume a bias-control parameter…
In this paper we present a novel randomized block coordinate descent method for the minimization of a convex composite objective function. The method uses (approximate) partial second-order (curvature) information, so that the algorithm…
Many sequential decision problems can be formulated as Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) where the optimal value function (or cost-to-go function) can be shown to satisfy a monotone structure in some or all of its dimensions. When the state…
Nonlinear control systems with partial information to the decision maker are prevalent in a variety of applications. As a step toward studying such nonlinear systems, this work explores reinforcement learning methods for finding the optimal…
Recursive Marginal Quantization (RMQ) allows fast approximation of solutions to stochastic differential equations in one-dimension. When applied to two factor models, RMQ is inefficient due to the fact that the optimization problem is…
In this paper, we present a stochastic gradient algorithm for minimizing a smooth objective function that is an expectation over noisy cost samples, and only the latter are observed for any given parameter. Our algorithm employs a gradient…
In this paper we propose a variant of the random coordinate descent method for solving linearly constrained convex optimization problems with composite objective functions. If the smooth part of the objective function has Lipschitz…
Machine learning algorithms in high-dimensional settings are highly susceptible to the influence of even a small fraction of structured outliers, making robust optimization techniques essential. In particular, within the…
While nowadays most gradient-based optimization methods focus on exploring the high-dimensional geometric features, the random error accumulated in a stochastic version of any algorithm implementation has not been stressed yet. In this…
This work introduces a novel multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) metamodeling approach for variance function estimation. Although devising an efficient experimental design for simulation metamodeling can be elusive, the MLMC-based approach…
In this paper, we are interested in finding the global minimizer of a nonsmooth nonconvex unconstrained optimization problem. By combining the discrete consensus-based optimization (CBO) algorithm and the gradient descent method, we develop…
In this article, we develop a trust-region technique to find critical points of unconstrained set optimization problems with the objective set-valued map defined by finitely many twice continuously differentiable functions. The technique is…