Related papers: Unconstrained optimization using the directional p…
The proximal point algorithm is a widely used tool for solving a variety of convex optimization problems such as finding zeros of maximally monotone operators, fixed points of nonexpansive mappings, as well as minimizing convex functions.…
This paper develops and analyzes an accelerated proximal descent method for finding stationary points of nonconvex composite optimization problems. The objective function is of the form $f+h$ where $h$ is a proper closed convex function,…
Random search methods are widely used for global optimization due to their theoretical generality and implementation simplicity. This paper proposes a depth-first directional search (DFDS) algorithm for globally solving nonconvex…
For solving pseudo-convex global optimization problems, we present a novel fully adaptive steepest descent method (or ASDM) without any hard-to-estimate parameters. For the step-size regulation in an $\varepsilon$-normalized direction, we…
We consider smooth stochastic convex optimization problems in the context of algorithms which are based on directional derivatives of the objective function. This context can be considered as an intermediate one between derivative-free…
We study the problem of minimizing a $m$-weakly convex and possibly nonsmooth function. Weak convexity provides a broad framework that subsumes convex, smooth, and many composite nonconvex functions. In this work, we propose a…
Decentralized optimization is well studied for smooth unconstrained problems. However, constrained problems or problems with composite terms are an open direction for research. We study structured (or composite) optimization problems, where…
This paper proposes and analyzes a dampened proximal alternating direction method of multipliers (DP.ADMM) for solving linearly-constrained nonconvex optimization problems where the smooth part of the objective function is nonseparable.…
We propose and analyze asymptotic proximal point (APP) methods to find the global minimizer for a class of nonconvex, nonsmooth, or even discontinuous multiple minima functions. The method is based on an asymptotic representation of…
This paper introduces a novel Differential Dynamic Programming (DDP) algorithm for solving discrete-time finite-horizon optimal control problems with inequality constraints. Two variants, namely Feasible- and Infeasible-IPDDP algorithms,…
This paper focus on the minimization of a possibly nonsmooth objective function over the Stiefel manifold. The existing approaches either lack efficiency or can only tackle prox-friendly objective functions. We propose a constraint…
We consider a class of structured fractional minimization problems, in which the numerator part of the objective is the sum of a differentiable convex function and a convex non-smooth function, while the denominator part is a convex or…
We focus on a class of non-smooth optimization problems over the Stiefel manifold in the decentralized setting, where a connected network of $n$ agents cooperatively minimize a finite-sum objective function with each component being weakly…
We present a novel randomized block coordinate descent method for the minimization of a convex composite objective function. The method uses (approximate) partial second-order (curvature) information, so that the algorithm performance is…
In this paper, we consider a class of constrained multiobjective optimization problems, where each objective function can be expressed by adding a possibly nonsmooth nonconvex function and a differentiable function with Lipschitz continuous…
We identity the optimal non-infinitesimal direction of descent for a convex function. An algorithm is developed that can theoretically minimize a subset of (non-convex) functions.
We consider the difference of convex (DC) optimization problem subject to box constraints. Utilizing epsilon-subdifferentials of DC components of the objective, we develop a new method for finding global solutions to this problem. The…
The recently developed Distributed Block Proximal Method, for solving stochastic big-data convex optimization problems, is studied in this paper under the assumption of constant stepsizes and strongly convex (possibly non-smooth) local…
We prove that the finite-difference based derivative-free descent (FD-DFD) methods have a capability to find the global minima for a class of multiple minima problems. Our main result shows that, for a class of multiple minima objectives…
This paper considers a class of structured fractional minimization problems. The numerator consists of a differentiable function, a simple nonconvex nonsmooth function, a concave nonsmooth function, and a convex nonsmooth function composed…