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We introduce a class of distributions which may be considered as a smoothed probabilistic version of the ultrametric property that famously characterizes the Gibbs distributions of various spin glass models. This class of \emph{high-entropy…
In this paper, "chance optimization" problems are introduced, where one aims at maximizing the probability of a set defined by polynomial inequalities. These problems are, in general, nonconvex and computationally hard. With the objective…
Using the dual cone of sums of nonnegative circuits (SONC), we provide a relaxation of the global optimization problem to minimize an exponential sum and, as a special case, a multivariate real polynomial. Our approach builds on two key…
We consider polynomial optimization problems on Cartesian products of basic compact semialgebraic sets. The solution of such problems can be approximated as closely as desired by hierarchies of semidefinite programming relaxations, based on…
We present a novel approach to non-convex optimization with certificates, which handles smooth functions on the hypercube or on the torus. Unlike traditional methods that rely on algebraic properties, our algorithm exploits the regularity…
This paper concerns the generalized Nash equilibrium problem of polynomials (GNEPP). We apply the Gauss-Seidel method and Lasserre type Moment-SOS relaxations to solve GNEPPs. The convergence of the Gauss-Seidel method is known for some…
Yuan's theorem of the alternative is an important theoretical tool in optimization, which provides a checkable certificate for the infeasibility of a strict inequality system involving two homogeneous quadratic functions. In this paper, we…
Given a compact parameter set $Y\subset R^p$, we consider polynomial optimization problems $(P_y$) on $R^n$ whose description depends on the parameter $y\inY$. We assume that one can compute all moments of some probability measure $\phi$ on…
Symmetry and dominance breaking can be crucial for solving hard combinatorial search and optimisation problems, but the correctness of these techniques sometimes relies on subtle arguments. For this reason, it is desirable to produce…
In this paper, we study the maximum entropy sampling problem (MESP) and its variants. MESP seeks to identify a small subset of variables that maximizes the determinant of a covariance submatrix, and is a fundamental model in optimal…
We consider semidefinite programming (SDP) approaches for solving the maximum satisfiability problem (MAX-SAT) and the weighted partial MAX-SAT. It is widely known that SDP is well-suited to approximate the (MAX-)2-SAT. Our work shows the…
Various key problems from theoretical computer science can be expressed as polynomial optimization problems over the boolean hypercube. One particularly successful way to prove complexity bounds for these types of problems are based on sums…
The classes of sums of arithmetic-geometric exponentials (SAGE) and of sums of nonnegative circuit polynomials (SONC) provide nonnegativity certificates which are based on the inequality of the arithmetic and geometric means. We study the…
Dual decomposition approaches in nonconvex optimization may suffer from a duality gap. This poses a challenge when applying them directly to nonconvex problems such as MAP-inference in a Markov random field (MRF) with continuous state…
Autonomous navigation requires an accurate model or map of the environment. While dramatic progress in the prior two decades has enabled large-scale SLAM, the majority of existing methods rely on non-linear optimization techniques to find…
It is well-known that any sum of squares (SOS) program can be cast as a semidefinite program (SDP) of a particular structure and that therein lies the computational bottleneck for SOS programs, as the SDPs generated by this procedure are…
This work proposes a method for solving linear stochastic optimal control (SOC) problems using sum of squares and semidefinite programming. Previous work had used polynomial optimization to approximate the value function, requiring a high…
The goal of this paper is to survey the properties of the eigenvalue relaxation for least squares binary problems. This relaxation is a convex program which is obtained as the Lagrangian dual of the original problem with an implicit compact…
Modern state estimation is often formulated as an optimization problem and solved using efficient local search methods. These methods at best guarantee convergence to local minima, but, in some cases, global optimality can also be…
In this work we present a new method of black-box optimization and constraint satisfaction. Existing algorithms that have attempted to solve this problem are unable to consider multiple modes, and are not able to adapt to changes in…