Related papers: Robust recovery for stochastic block models
We study the subgradient method for factorized robust signal recovery problems, including robust PCA, robust phase retrieval, and robust matrix sensing. The resulting objectives are nonsmooth and nonconvex, and can have unbounded sublevel…
Composite convex optimization problems which include both a nonsmooth term and a low-rank promoting term have important applications in machine learning and signal processing, such as when one wishes to recover an unknown matrix that is…
This work proposes an accelerated first-order algorithm we call the Robust Momentum Method for optimizing smooth strongly convex functions. The algorithm has a single scalar parameter that can be tuned to trade off robustness to gradient…
In performative stochastic optimization, decisions can influence the distribution of random parameters, rendering the data-generating process itself decision-dependent. In practice, decision-makers rarely have access to the true…
Recoverable robust optimization is a multi-stage approach, where it is possible to adjust a first-stage solution after the uncertain cost scenario is revealed. We analyze this approach for a class of selection problems. The aim is to choose…
We consider a generic empirical composition optimization problem, where there are empirical averages present both outside and inside nonlinear loss functions. Such a problem is of interest in various machine learning applications, and…
We propose and analyze algorithms for distributionally robust optimization of convex losses with conditional value at risk (CVaR) and $\chi^2$ divergence uncertainty sets. We prove that our algorithms require a number of gradient…
Low-rank matrix recovery problems are inverse problems which naturally arise in various fields like signal processing, imaging and machine learning. They are non-convex and NP-hard in full generality. It is therefore a delicate problem to…
We propose a scalable robust learning algorithm combining kernel smoothing and robust optimization. Our method is motivated by the convex analysis perspective of distributionally robust optimization based on probability metrics, such as the…
We analyze stochastic algorithms for optimizing nonconvex, nonsmooth finite-sum problems, where the nonconvex part is smooth and the nonsmooth part is convex. Surprisingly, unlike the smooth case, our knowledge of this fundamental problem…
Many real world datasets subsume a linear or non-linear low-rank structure in a very low-dimensional space. Unfortunately, one often has very little or no information about the geometry of the space, resulting in a highly under-determined…
Our goal is to compute a policy that guarantees improved return over a baseline policy even when the available MDP model is inaccurate. The inaccurate model may be constructed, for example, by system identification techniques when the true…
Based on a preconditioned version of the randomized block-coordinate forward-backward algorithm recently proposed in [Combettes,Pesquet,2014], several variants of block-coordinate primal-dual algorithms are designed in order to solve a wide…
In this paper, we present and analyze a new set of low-rank recovery algorithms for linear inverse problems within the class of hard thresholding methods. We provide strategies on how to set up these algorithms via basic ingredients for…
Stochastic gradient descent type methods are ubiquitous in machine learning, but they are only applicable to the optimization of differentiable functions. Proximal algorithms are more general and applicable to nonsmooth functions. We…
In this paper, we present and analyze a simple and robust spectral algorithm for the stochastic block model with $k$ blocks, for any $k$ fixed. Our algorithm works with graphs having constant edge density, under an optimal condition on the…
Stochastic variational Bayes algorithms have become very popular in the machine learning literature, particularly in the context of nonparametric Bayesian inference. These algorithms replace the true but intractable posterior distribution…
We consider a distributionally robust stochastic optimization problem and formulate it as a stochastic two-level composition optimization problem with the use of the mean--semideviation risk measure. In this setting, we consider a single…
This paper is about a curious phenomenon. Suppose we have a data matrix, which is the superposition of a low-rank component and a sparse component. Can we recover each component individually? We prove that under some suitable assumptions,…
We consider minimization of stochastic functionals that are compositions of a (potentially) non-smooth convex function $h$ and smooth function $c$ and, more generally, stochastic weakly-convex functionals. We develop a family of stochastic…