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Many important machine learning applications involve regularized nonconvex bi-level optimization. However, the existing gradient-based bi-level optimization algorithms cannot handle nonconvex or nonsmooth regularizers, and they suffer from…
We slightly modify the proof of Hanson-Wright inequality (HWI) for concentration of Gaussian quadratic chaos where we tighten the bound by increasing the absolute constant in its formulation from the largest known value of 0.125 to at least…
In this thesis we develop a novel framework to study smooth and strongly convex optimization algorithms, both deterministic and stochastic. Focusing on quadratic functions we are able to examine optimization algorithms as a recursive…
McCormick envelopes are a standard tool for deriving convex relaxations of optimization problems that involve polynomial terms. Such McCormick relaxations provide lower bounds, for example, in branch-and-bound procedures for mixed-integer…
We investigate the numerical approximation of an elliptic optimal control problem which involves a nonconvex local regularization of the $L^q$-quasinorm penalization (with $q\in(0,1)$) in the cost function. Our approach is based on the…
Combinatorial reconfiguration is a growing research field studying problems on the transformability between a pair of solutions of a search problem. We consider the approximability of optimization variants of reconfiguration problems; e.g.,…
We examine the problem of approximating a positive, semidefinite matrix $\Sigma$ by a dyad $xx^T$, with a penalty on the cardinality of the vector $x$. This problem arises in sparse principal component analysis, where a decomposition of…
We consider the hardness of approximation of optimization problems from the point of view of definability. For many NP-hard optimization problems it is known that, unless P = NP, no polynomial-time algorithm can give an approximate solution…
Optimization problems with norm-bounding constraints arise in a variety of applications, including portfolio optimization, machine learning, and feature selection. A common approach to these problems involves relaxing the norm constraint…
In this paper, by improving the variable-splitting approach, we propose a new semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxation for the nonconvex quadratic optimization problem over the $\ell_1$ unit ball (QPL1). It dominates the state-of-the-art…
In the optimization of convex domains under a PDE constraint numerical difficulties arise in the approximation of convex domains in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Previous research used a restriction to rotationally symmetric domains to reduce shape…
The maximum volume $j$-simplex problem asks to compute the $j$-dimensional simplex of maximum volume inside the convex hull of a given set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{Q}^d$. We give a deterministic approximation algorithm for this problem…
This paper studies minimax optimization problems $\min_x \max_y f(x,y)$, where $f(x,y)$ is $m_x$-strongly convex with respect to $x$, $m_y$-strongly concave with respect to $y$ and $(L_x,L_{xy},L_y)$-smooth. Zhang et al. provided the…
Conic optimization has recently emerged as a powerful tool for designing tractable and guaranteed algorithms for non-convex polynomial optimization problems. On the one hand, tractability is crucial for efficiently solving large-scale…
We find the optimal constant $C$ such that \begin{equation*} \|f_1*f_2*\dots*f_{k}\|_{\infty}\geq C\prod_{i=1}^{k}\|f_i\|_1 \end{equation*} for functions $f_i:\{0,1\}^d\to\mathbb{R}$. As applications, we derive bounds for Sidon sets on…
We investigate the problem of best policy identification in discounted linear Markov Decision Processes in the fixed confidence setting under a generative model. We first derive an instance-specific lower bound on the expected number of…
This article presents a new method for computing guaranteed convex and concave relaxations of nonlinear stochastic optimal control problems with final-time expected-value cost functions. This method is motivated by similar methods for…
The cubic regularization (CR) algorithm has attracted a lot of attentions in the literature in recent years. We propose a new reformulation of the cubic regularization subproblem. The reformulation is an unconstrained convex problem that…
In this work, we study online submodular maximization, and how the requirement of maintaining a stable solution impacts the approximation. In particular, we seek bounds on the best-possible approximation ratio that is attainable when the…
We examine a multi-stage stochastic optimization problem characterized by stagewise-independent, decision-dependent noises with strict constraints. The problem assumes convexity in that, following a specific relaxation, it transforms into a…