Related papers: Strengthening SONC Relaxations with Constraints De…

Polynomial optimization problems are infinite-dimensional, nonconvex, NP-hard, and are often handled in practice with the moment-sums of squares hierarchy of semidefinite programming bounds. We consider problems where the objective function…

This paper presents a novel convex optimization-based method for finding the globally optimal solutions of a class of mixed-integer non-convex optimal control problems. We consider problems with non-convex constraints that restrict the…

While neural networks have achieved high performance in different learning tasks, their accuracy drops significantly in the presence of small adversarial perturbations to inputs. Defenses based on regularization and adversarial training are…

We consider the problem of certifying an inequality of the form $f(x)\geq 0$, $\forall x\in K$, where $f$ is a multivariate transcendental function, and $K$ is a compact semialgebraic set. We introduce a certification method, combining…

We provide a new degree bound on the weighted sum-of-squares (SOS) polynomials for Putinar-Vasilescu's Positivstellensatz. This leads to another Positivstellensatz saying that if $f$ is a polynomial of degree at most $2 d_f$ nonnegative on…

Distributionally Robust (DR) optimization aims to certify worst-case risk within a Wasserstein uncertainty set. Current certifications typically rely either on global Lipschitz bounds, which are often conservative, or on local gradient…

We compare four key hierarchies for solving Constrained Polynomial Optimization Problems (CPOP): Sum of Squares (SOS), Sum of Diagonally Dominant Polynomials (SDSOS), Sum of Nonnegative Circuits (SONC), and the Sherali Adams (SA)…

In this paper, a new mixed integer nonlinear programming formulation is proposed for optimally placing and operating pressure reducing valves and chlorine booster stations in water distribution networks. The objective is the minimization of…

Inspired by branch-and-bound and cutting plane proofs in mixed-integer optimization and proof complexity, we develop a general approach via Hoffman's Helly systems. This helps to distill the main ideas behind optimality and infeasibility…

We consider polynomial optimization problems (POP) on a semialgebraic set contained in the nonnegative orthant (every POP on a compact set can be put in this format by a simple translation of the origin). Such a POP can be converted to an…

We study the problem of co-designing control barrier functions and linear state feedback controllers for discrete-time linear systems affected by additive disturbances. For disturbances of bounded magnitude, we provide a semi-definite…

We study efficient algorithms for Sparse PCA in standard statistical models (spiked covariance in its Wishart form). Our goal is to achieve optimal recovery guarantees while being resilient to small perturbations. Despite a long history of…

This work proposes a method for solving linear stochastic optimal control (SOC) problems using sum of squares and semidefinite programming. Previous work had used polynomial optimization to approximate the value function, requiring a high…

Randomized smoothing (RS) has been shown to be a fast, scalable technique for certifying the robustness of deep neural network classifiers. However, methods based on RS require augmenting data with large amounts of noise, which leads to…

We consider certificates of positivity for univariate polynomials with rational coefficients that are positive over (an interval of)~$\mathbb{R}$. Such certificates take the form of weighted sums of squares (SOS) of polynomials with…

In this article, we combine sums of squares (SOS) and sums of nonnegative circuit (SONC) forms, two independent nonnegativity certificates for real homogeneous polynomials. We consider the convex cone SOS+SONC of forms that decompose into a…

In this paper we consider the safety verification and safe controller synthesis problems for nonlinear control systems. The Control Barrier Certificates (CBC) approach is proposed as an extension to the Barrier certificates approach. Our…

We develop the tools to bound extreme roots of multivariate real zero polynomials globally. This is done through the use of a relaxation that approximates their rigidly convex sets. This relaxation can easily be constructed using the degree…

This thesis explores algorithmic applications and limitations of convex relaxation hierarchies for approximating some discrete and continuous optimization problems. - We show a dichotomy of approximability of constraint satisfaction…

Constraint programming uses enumeration and search tree pruning to solve combinatorial optimization problems. In order to speed up this solution process, we investigate the use of semidefinite relaxations within constraint programming. In…