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In this short note, we consider the problem of solving a min-max zero-sum game. This problem has been extensively studied in the convex-concave regime where the global solution can be computed efficiently. Recently, there have also been…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-12-11 Maziar Sanjabi , Meisam Razaviyayn , Jason D. Lee

Training neural networks involves solving large-scale non-convex optimization problems. This task has long been believed to be extremely difficult, with fear of local minima and other obstacles motivating a variety of schemes to improve…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2015-05-25 Ian J. Goodfellow , Oriol Vinyals , Andrew M. Saxe

In this paper, we address the problem of interpolation of smooth convex-concave functions. Interpolation is a key step for computer-assisted estimation of worst-case performance via PEP-like techniques, and smooth convex-concave functions…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-05-26 Valery Krivchenko , Alexander Gasnikov , Dmitry Kovalev

Training neural networks requires optimizing a loss function that may be highly irregular, and in particular neither convex nor smooth. Popular training algorithms are based on stochastic gradient descent with momentum (SGDM), for which…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-17 Qinzi Zhang , Ashok Cutkosky

This paper investigates the optimality conditions for characterizing the local minimizers of the constrained optimization problems involving an $\ell_p$ norm ($0<p<1$) of the variables, which may appear in either the objective or the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-16 Hao Wang , Yining Gao , Jiashan Wang , Hongying Liu

In this paper, distributed convex optimization problem over non-directed dynamical networks is studied. Here, networked agents with single-integrator dynamics are supposed to rendezvous at a point that is the solution of a global convex…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-07-18 Amir Adibzadeh , Mohsen Zamani , Amir A. Suratgar , Mohammad B. Menhaj

A widely recognized difficulty in federated learning arises from the statistical heterogeneity among clients: local datasets often originate from distinct yet not entirely unrelated probability distributions, and personalization is,…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-03-12 Shuxiao Chen , Qinqing Zheng , Qi Long , Weijie J. Su

Minimax problems have achieved success in machine learning such as adversarial training, robust optimization, reinforcement learning. For theoretical analysis, current optimal excess risk bounds, which are composed by generalization error…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-10-14 Bowei Zhu , Shaojie Li , Yong Liu

We initiate the study of nonsmooth optimization problems under bounded local subgradient variation, which postulates bounded difference between (sub)gradients in small local regions around points, in either average or maximum sense. The…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-11-05 Jelena Diakonikolas , Cristóbal Guzmán

Distributed Optimization is an increasingly important subject area with the rise of multi-agent control and optimization. We consider a decentralized stochastic optimization problem where the agents on a graph aim to asynchronously optimize…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-10-22 Vyacheslav Kungurtsev , Mahdi Morafah , Tara Javidi , Gesualdo Scutari

Nonsmooth nonconvex-concave minimax problems have attracted significant attention due to their wide applications in many fields. In this paper, we consider a class of nonsmooth nonconvex-concave minimax problems on Riemannian manifolds.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-24 Xiyuan Xie , Qia Li

Majorization-minimization algorithms consist of successively minimizing a sequence of upper bounds of the objective function. These upper bounds are tight at the current estimate, and each iteration monotonically drives the objective…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-02-03 Julien Mairal

This paper considers decentralized optimization of convex functions with mixed affine equality constraints involving both local and global variables. Constraints on global variables may vary across different nodes in the network, while…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-02-05 Demyan Yarmoshik , Nhat Trung Nguyen , Alexander Rogozin , Alexander Gasnikov

We provide novel theoretical results regarding local optima of regularized $M$-estimators, allowing for nonconvexity in both loss and penalty functions. Under restricted strong convexity on the loss and suitable regularity conditions on the…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2015-01-05 Po-Ling Loh , Martin J. Wainwright

A number of prototypical optimization problems in multi-agent systems (e.g., task allocation and network load-sharing) exhibit a highly local structure: that is, each agent's decision variables are only directly coupled to few other agent's…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2020-03-04 Robin Brown , Federico Rossi , Kiril Solovey , Michael T. Wolf , Marco Pavone

Decentralized optimization with time-varying networks is an emerging paradigm in machine learning. It saves remarkable communication overhead in large-scale deep training and is more robust in wireless scenarios especially when nodes are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-02 Xinmeng Huang , Kun Yuan

We propose a family of nonconvex optimization algorithms that are able to save gradient and negative curvature computations to a large extent, and are guaranteed to find an approximate local minimum with improved runtime complexity. At the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-12-12 Yaodong Yu , Difan Zou , Quanquan Gu

The global optimization have the very extensive applications in econometrics, science and engineering. However, the global optimization for non-convex objective functions is particularly difficult since most of the existing global…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-07-17 Da-Zheng Feng , Han-Zhe Feng , Hai-Qin Zhang

Time-varying non-convex continuous-valued non-linear constrained optimization is a fundamental problem. We study conditions wherein a momentum-like regularising term allow for the tracking of local optima by considering an ordinary…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-09-18 Olivier Massicot , Jakub Marecek

Zero-sum games arise in a wide variety of problems, including robust optimization and adversarial learning. However, algorithms deployed for finding a local Nash equilibrium in these games often converge to non-Nash stationary points. This…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-09-30 Kushagra Gupta , Xinjie Liu , Ross Allen , Ufuk Topcu , David Fridovich-Keil