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In this work, we consider convex optimization problems with smooth objective function and nonsmooth functional constraints. We propose a new stochastic gradient algorithm, called Stochastic Halfspace Approximation Method (SHAM), to solve…
The Frank-Wolfe (FW) method, which implements efficient linear oracles that minimize linear approximations of the objective function over a fixed compact convex set, has recently received much attention in the optimization and machine…
We obtain a new lower bound on the information-based complexity of first-order minimization of smooth and convex functions. We show that the bound matches the worst-case performance of the recently introduced Optimized Gradient Method,…
In this paper, we propose a general class of algorithms for optimizing an extensive variety of nonsmoothly penalized objective functions that satisfy certain regularity conditions. The proposed framework utilizes the…
Optimization over the Stiefel manifold $\mathrm{St}(p,d)$, the set of $p \times d$ column-orthonormal matrices, is fundamental in statistics, machine learning, and scientific computing, yet remains challenging in the presence of non-convex,…
Many challenges in science and engineering, such as drug discovery and communication network design, involve optimizing complex and expensive black-box functions across vast search spaces. Thus, it is essential to leverage existing data to…
We study the decentralized optimization problem $\min_{{\bf x}\in{\mathbb R}^d} f({\bf x})\triangleq \frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^m f_i({\bf x})$, where the local function on the $i$-th agent has the form of $f_i({\bf x})\triangleq…
A common approach for minimizing a smooth nonlinear function is to employ finite-difference approximations to the gradient. While this can be easily performed when no error is present within the function evaluations, when the function is…
The generalized smooth condition, $(L_{0},L_{1})$-smoothness, has triggered people's interest since it is more realistic in many optimization problems shown by both empirical and theoretical evidence. Two recent works established the…
We study the problem of global maximization of a function f given a finite number of evaluations perturbed by noise. We consider a very weak assumption on the function, namely that it is locally smooth (in some precise sense) with respect…
A new class of test functions for black box optimization is introduced. Affine OneMax (AOM) functions are defined as compositions of OneMax and invertible affine maps on bit vectors. The black box complexity of the class is upper bounded by…
We introduce a novel approach for analyzing the performance of first-order black-box optimization methods. We focus on smooth unconstrained convex minimization over the Euclidean space $R^d$. Our approach relies on the observation that by…
This paper investigates a general class of problems in which a lower bounded smooth convex function incorporating $\ell_{0}$ and $\ell_{2,0}$ regularization is minimized over a box constraint. Although such problems arise frequently in…
Feature-based algorithm selection aims to automatically find the best one from a portfolio of optimization algorithms on an unseen problem based on its landscape features. Feature-based algorithm selection has recently received attention in…
Ensuring that large language models (LLMs) comply with safety requirements is a central challenge in AI deployment. Existing alignment approaches primarily operate during training, such as through fine-tuning or reinforcement learning from…
We consider the maximization of a submodular objective function $f:2^U\to\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}$, where the objective $f$ is not accessed as a value oracle but instead subject to noisy queries. We introduce a versatile adaptive sampling…
Motivated by recent work of Renegar, we present new computational methods and associated computational guarantees for solving convex optimization problems using first-order methods. Our problem of interest is the general convex optimization…
We show that the exact worst-case performance of fixed-step first-order methods for unconstrained optimization of smooth (possibly strongly) convex functions can be obtained by solving convex programs. Finding the worst-case performance of…
We introduce a class of stochastic algorithms for minimizing weakly convex functions over proximally smooth sets. As their main building blocks, the algorithms use simplified models of the objective function and the constraint set, along…
We present an optimal gradient method for smooth strongly convex optimization. The method is optimal in the sense that its worst-case bound on the distance to an optimal point exactly matches the lower bound on the oracle complexity for the…