Related papers: Limitations of Information-Theoretic Generalizatio…
Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) is one of the simplest and most popular stochastic optimization methods. While it has already been theoretically studied for decades, the classical analysis usually required non-trivial smoothness…
We introduce a new framework for the convergence analysis of a class of distributed constrained non-convex optimization algorithms in multi-agent systems. The aim is to search for local minimizers of a non-convex objective function which is…
We consider the problem of minimizing a convex function that is evolving according to unknown and possibly stochastic dynamics, which may depend jointly on time and on the decision variable itself. Such problems abound in the machine…
This paper investigates online algorithms for smooth time-varying optimization problems, focusing first on methods with constant step-size, momentum, and extrapolation-length. Assuming strong convexity, precise results for the tracking…
There are several applications of stochastic optimization where one can benefit from a robust estimate of the gradient. For example, domains such as distributed learning with corrupted nodes, the presence of large outliers in the training…
Gradient perturbation, widely used for differentially private optimization, injects noise at every iterative update to guarantee differential privacy. Previous work first determines the noise level that can satisfy the privacy requirement…
We consider the problem of minimizing the sum of two convex functions: one is the average of a large number of smooth component functions, and the other is a general convex function that admits a simple proximal mapping. We assume the whole…
In this paper, we study the convergence properties of the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) method for finding a stationary point of a given objective function $J(\cdot)$. The objective function is not required to be convex. Rather, our…
Minimax optimal convergence rates for classes of stochastic convex optimization problems are well characterized, where the majority of results utilize iterate averaged stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with polynomially decaying step sizes.…
First order methods endowed with global convergence guarantees operate using global lower bounds on the objective. The tightening of the bounds has been shown to increase both the theoretical guarantees and the practical performance. In…
Gradient Descent (GD) and Conjugate Gradient (CG) methods are among the most effective iterative algorithms for solving unconstrained optimization problems, particularly in machine learning and statistical modeling, where they are employed…
We consider distributed optimization over networks where each agent is associated with a smooth and strongly convex local objective function. We assume that the agents only have access to unbiased estimators of the gradient of their…
This paper explores the generalization characteristics of iterative learning algorithms with bounded updates for non-convex loss functions, employing information-theoretic techniques. Our key contribution is a novel bound for the…
We study the generalization performance of $\text{full-batch}$ optimization algorithms for stochastic convex optimization: these are first-order methods that only access the exact gradient of the empirical risk (rather than gradients with…
We provide a unified analysis of two-timescale gradient descent ascent (TTGDA) for solving structured nonconvex minimax optimization problems in the form of $\min_\textbf{x} \max_{\textbf{y} \in Y} f(\textbf{x}, \textbf{y})$, where the…
In this article, we propose a new approach, optimize then agree for minimizing a sum $ f = \sum_{i=1}^n f_i(x)$ of convex objective functions over a directed graph. The optimize then agree approach decouples the optimization step and the…
Numerous empirical evidences have corroborated the importance of noise in nonconvex optimization problems. The theory behind such empirical observations, however, is still largely unknown. This paper studies this fundamental problem through…
We provide a new understanding of the stochastic gradient bandit algorithm by showing that it converges to a globally optimal policy almost surely using \emph{any} constant learning rate. This result demonstrates that the stochastic…
Recently, there is a growing interest in the study of median-based algorithms for distributed non-convex optimization. Two prominent such algorithms include signSGD with majority vote, an effective approach for communication reduction via…
This paper introduces an iterative algorithm for training nonparametric additive models that enjoys favorable memory storage and computational requirements. The algorithm can be viewed as the functional counterpart of stochastic gradient…