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Second-order optimizers hold intriguing potential for deep learning, but suffer from increased cost and sensitivity to the non-convexity of the loss surface as compared to gradient-based approaches. We introduce a coordinate descent method…
Quasar convexity is a condition that allows some first-order methods to efficiently minimize a function even when the optimization landscape is non-convex. Previous works develop near-optimal accelerated algorithms for minimizing this class…
We consider in this paper a class of composite optimization problems whose objective function is given by the summation of a general smooth and nonsmooth component, together with a relatively simple nonsmooth term. We present a new class of…
We propose a descent subgradient algorithm for unconstrained nonsmooth nonconvex multiobjective optimization problems. To find a descent direction, we present an iterative process that efficiently approximates the Goldstein subdifferential…
Motivated by applications arising from sensor networks and machine learning, we consider the problem of minimizing a finite sum of nondifferentiable convex functions where each component function is associated with an agent and a…
Boosting is a popular way to derive powerful learners from simpler hypothesis classes. Following previous work (Mason et al., 1999; Friedman, 2000) on general boosting frameworks, we analyze gradient-based descent algorithms for boosting…
Many engineering problems have multiple objectives, and the overall aim is to optimize a non-linear function of these objectives. In this paper, we formulate the problem of maximizing a non-linear concave function of multiple long-term…
We propose and analyze a new stochastic gradient method, which we call Stochastic Unbiased Curvature-aided Gradient (SUCAG), for finite sum optimization problems. SUCAG constitutes an unbiased total gradient tracking technique that uses…
Gradient clipping is commonly used in training deep neural networks partly due to its practicability in relieving the exploding gradient problem. Recently, \citet{zhang2019gradient} show that clipped (stochastic) Gradient Descent (GD)…
The graduated optimization approach is a method for finding global optimal solutions for nonconvex functions by using a function smoothing operation with stochastic noise. This paper makes three contributions regarding graduated…
Optimization models with non-convex constraints arise in many tasks in machine learning, e.g., learning with fairness constraints or Neyman-Pearson classification with non-convex loss. Although many efficient methods have been developed…
The graduated optimization approach, also known as the continuation method, is a popular heuristic to solving non-convex problems that has received renewed interest over the last decade. Despite its popularity, very little is known in terms…
We study distributed stochastic nonconvex optimization in multi-agent networks. We introduce a novel algorithmic framework for the distributed minimization of the sum of the expected value of a smooth (possibly nonconvex) function (the…
In this paper, we develop new first-order method for composite non-convex minimization problems with simple constraints and inexact oracle. The objective function is given as a sum of "`hard"', possibly non-convex part, and "`simple"'…
To compute the spatially distributed dielectric constant from the backscattering data, we study a coefficient inverse problem for a 1D hyperbolic equation. To solve the inverse problem, we establish a new version of Carleman estimate and…
Optimization algorithms for solving nonconvex inverse problem have attracted significant interests recently. However, existing methods require the nonconvex regularization to be smooth or simple to ensure convergence. In this paper, we…
We consider the task of decentralized minimization of the sum of smooth strongly convex functions stored across the nodes of a network. For this problem, lower bounds on the number of gradient computations and the number of communication…
Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) has been widely studied in the literature from different angles, and is commonly employed for solving many big data machine learning problems. However, the averaging technique, which combines all iterative…
The stochastic gradient descent has been widely used for solving composite optimization problems in big data analyses. Many algorithms and convergence properties have been developed. The composite functions were convex primarily and…
We develop a novel gradient-based algorithm for optimizing nonsmooth nonconvex functions where nonsmoothness arises from explicit nonsmooth operators in the objective's analytical form. Our key innovation involves encoding active smooth…