Related papers: Convergence of the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithm in t…
Recently there has been renewed interests in derivative free approaches to stochastic optimization. In this paper, we examine the rates of convergence for the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithm and the mirror descent algorithm, under various…
A stochastic algorithm for the recursive approximation of the location $\theta$ of a maximum of a regression function was introduced by Kiefer and Wolfowitz [Ann. Math. Statist. 23 (1952) 462--466] in the univariate framework, and by Blum…
This paper considers the problem of minimizing a convex expectation function with a set of inequality convex expectation constraints. We present a computable stochastic approximation type algorithm, namely the stochastic linearized proximal…
This paper proposes a proof of the convergence of a distributed and asynchronous version of the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithm.
Stochastic approximation is a foundation for many algorithms found in machine learning and optimization. It is in general slow to converge: the mean square error vanishes as $O(n^{-1})$. A deterministic counterpart known as quasi-stochastic…
This paper considers stochastic weakly convex optimization without the standard Lipschitz continuity assumption. Based on new adaptive regularization (stepsize) strategies, we show that a wide class of stochastic algorithms, including the…
We develop a stochastic approximation-type algorithm to solve finite state/action, infinite-horizon, risk-aware Markov decision processes. Our algorithm has two loops. The inner loop computes the risk by solving a stochastic saddle-point…
We analyze the behavior of stochastic approximation algorithms where iterates, in expectation, progress towards an objective at each step. When progress is proportional to the step size of the algorithm, we prove exponential concentration…
In this paper, we focus on the problem of stochastic optimization where the objective function can be written as an expectation function over a closed convex set. We also consider multiple expectation constraints which restrict the domain…
We analyze a stochastic approximation algorithm for decision-dependent problems, wherein the data distribution used by the algorithm evolves along the iterate sequence. The primary examples of such problems appear in performative prediction…
We study a standard distributed optimization framework where $N$ networked nodes collaboratively minimize the sum of their local convex costs. The main body of existing work considers the described problem when the underling network is…
The theory of stochastic approximations form the theoretical foundation for studying convergence properties of many popular recursive learning algorithms in statistics, machine learning and statistical physics. Large deviations for…
In this paper, we show that the Away-step Stochastic Frank-Wolfe Algorithm (ASFW) and Pairwise Stochastic Frank-Wolfe algorithm (PSFW) converge linearly in expectation. We also show that if an algorithm convergences linearly in expectation…
This paper investigates the problem of online statistical inference of model parameters in stochastic optimization problems via the Kiefer-Wolfowitz algorithm with random search directions. We first present the asymptotic distribution for…
This paper focuses on investigating an inexact stochastic model-based optimization algorithm that integrates preconditioning techniques for solving stochastic composite optimization problems. The proposed framework unifies and extends the…
Chance-constrained problems involve stochastic components in the constraints which can be violated with a small probability. We investigate the impact of different types of chance constraints on the performance of iterative search…
An algorithm is proposed, analyzed, and tested experimentally for solving stochastic optimization problems in which the decision variables are constrained to satisfy equations defined by deterministic, smooth, and nonlinear functions. It is…
In this paper, we present a method for the accurate estimation of the derivative (aka.~sensitivity) of expectations of functions involving an indicator function by combining a stochastic algorithmic differentiation and a regression. The…
This work develops new results for stochastic approximation algorithms. The emphases are on treating algorithms and limits with discontinuities. The main ingredients include the use of differential inclusions, set-valued analysis, and…
We consider an $n$ agents distributed optimization problem with imperfect information characterized in a parametric sense, where the unknown parameter can be solved by a distinct distributed parameter learning problem. Though each agent…