Related papers: Sums of Squares and Sparse Semidefinite Programmin…

A sum-of-squares is a polynomial that can be expressed as a sum of squares of other polynomials. Determining if a sum-of-squares decomposition exists for a given polynomial is equivalent to a linear matrix inequality feasibility problem.…

The problem of characterizing a real polynomial $f$ as a sum of squares of polynomials on a real algebraic variety $V$ dates back to the pioneering work of Hilbert in [Mathematische Annalen 32.3 (1888): 342-350]. In this paper, we…

We consider real polynomials in finitely many variables. Let the variables consist of finitely many blocks that are allowed to overlap in a certain way. Let the solution set of a finite system of polynomial inequalities be given where each…

A polynomial that is nonnegative need not be a sum of squares of polynomials. This classical gap, identified by Hilbert in 1888, lies at the heart of why the global optimization of multivariate quartic polynomials is NP-hard. Yet we show…

Let $f_1,\dots,f_m$ be polynomials in $n$ variables with coefficients in a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. We estimate the number of points $\underline{x}$ in $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ such that each value $f_i(\underline{x})$ is a nonzero square in…

In optimization problems involving smooth functions and real and matrix variables, that contain matrix semidefiniteness constraints, consider the following change of variables: Replace the positive semidefinite matrix $X \in \mathbb{S}^d$,…

The difficulty in exploring potential energy surfaces, which are nonconvex, stems from the presence of many local minima, typically separated by high barriers and often disconnected in configurational space. We obtain the global minimum on…

In this survey we consider polynomial optimization problems, asking to minimize a polynomial function over a compact semialgebraic set, defined by polynomial inequalities. This models a great variety of (in general, nonlinear nonconvex)…

We prove decomposition theorems for sparse positive (semi)definite polynomial matrices that can be viewed as sparsity-exploiting versions of the Hilbert--Artin, Reznick, Putinar, and Putinar--Vasilescu Positivstellens\"atze. First, we…

We present an example of a strictly positive polynomial with rational coefficients that can be decomposed as a sum of squares of polynomials over $\R$ but not over $\Q$. This answers an open question by C. Scheiderer posed as the second…

We consider the convex geometry of the cone of nonnegative quadratics over Stanley-Reisner varieties. Stanley-Reisner varieties (which are unions of coordinate planes) are amongst the simplest real projective varieties, so this is…

We follow a stream of the history of positive matrices and positive functionals, as applied to algebraic sums of squares decompositions, with emphasis on the interaction between classical moment problems, function theory of one or several…

We study the quantitative relationship between the cones of nonnegative polynomials, cones of sums of squares and cones of sums of powers of linear forms. We derive bounds on the volumes (raised to the power reciprocal to the ambient…

Recently there has been much interest in "sparsifying" sums of rank one matrices: modifying the coefficients such that only a few are nonzero, while approximately preserving the matrix that results from the sum. Results of this sort have…

In the smallest cases where there exist nonnegative polynomials that are not sums of squares we present a complete explanation of this distinction. The fundamental reason that the cone of sums of squares is strictly contained in the cone of…

Motivated by applications in robotics and computer vision, we study problems related to spatial reasoning of a 3D environment using sublevel sets of polynomials. These include: tightly containing a cloud of points (e.g., representing an…

This paper considers the problem of positive semidefinite factorization (PSD factorization), a generalization of exact nonnegative matrix factorization. Given an $m$-by-$n$ nonnegative matrix $X$ and an integer $k$, the PSD factorization…

Let X be a finite set of points in R^n. A polynomial p nonnegative on X can be written as a sum of squares of rational functions modulo the vanishing ideal I(X). From the point of view of applications, such as polynomial optimization, we…

We present a hierarchy of semidefinite programs (SDPs) for the problem of fitting a shape-constrained (multivariate) polynomial to noisy evaluations of an unknown shape-constrained function. These shape constraints include convexity or…

In 2005, Boman et al introduced the concept of factor width for a real symmetric positive semidefinite matrix. This is the smallest positive integer $k$ for which the matrix $A$ can be written as $A=VV^T$ with each column of $V$ containing…