Related papers: Zeroth-order Gradient and Quasi-Newton Methods for…
To efficiently manage serverless computing platforms, a key aspect is the auto-scaling of services, i.e., the set of computational resources allocated to a service adapts over time as a function of the traffic demand. The objective is to…
This paper considers decentralized nonsmooth nonconvex optimization problem with Lipschitz continuous local functions. We propose an efficient stochastic first-order method with client sampling, achieving the $(\delta,\epsilon)$-Goldstein…
We lower bound the complexity of finding $\epsilon$-stationary points (with gradient norm at most $\epsilon$) using stochastic first-order methods. In a well-studied model where algorithms access smooth, potentially non-convex functions…
This paper investigates distributed zeroth-order optimization for smooth nonconvex problems, targeting the trade-off between convergence rate and sampling cost per zeroth-order gradient estimation in current algorithms that use either the…
Solving bilevel optimization (BLO) problems to global optimality is generally intractable. A common surrogate is to compute a hyper-stationary point -- a stationary point of the hyper-objective function obtained by minimizing or maximizing…
We consider the classical setting of optimizing a nonsmooth Lipschitz continuous convex function over a convex constraint set, when having access to a (stochastic) first-order oracle (FO) for the function and a projection oracle (PO) for…
This paper considers stochastic convex optimization problems where the objective and constraint functions involve expectations with respect to the data indices or environmental variables, in addition to deterministic convex constraints on…
We study stochastic zeroth-order (ZO) optimization of smooth nonconvex objectives under heavy-tailed sample-gradient noise. This regime is motivated by empirical evidence that gradient noise in modern machine learning can violate the…
The study of optimal control problems under uncertainty plays an important role in scientific numerical simulations. This class of optimization problems is strongly utilized in engineering, biology and finance. In this paper, a stochastic…
We prove convergence rates of Stochastic Zeroth-order Gradient Descent (SZGD) algorithms for Lojasiewicz functions. The SZGD algorithm iterates as \begin{align*} \mathbf{x}_{t+1} = \mathbf{x}_t - \eta_t \widehat{\nabla} f (\mathbf{x}_t),…
This paper considers zeroth-order optimization for stochastic convex minimization problem. We propose a parameter-free stochastic zeroth-order method (POEM) by introducing a step-size scheme based on the distance over finite difference and…
Classical theory for quasi-Newton schemes has focused on smooth deterministic unconstrained optimization while recent forays into stochastic convex optimization have largely resided in smooth, unconstrained, and strongly convex regimes.…
Frequently, when dealing with many machine learning models, optimization problems appear to be challenging due to a limited understanding of the constructions and characterizations of the objective functions in these problems. Therefore,…
We identify and analyze a fundamental limitation of the classical projected subgradient method in nonsmooth convex optimization: the inevitable failure caused by the absence of valid subgradients at boundary points. We show that, under…
Zeroth-order optimization, which does not use derivative information, is one of the significant research areas in the field of mathematical optimization and machine learning. Although various studies have explored zeroth-order algorithms,…
We propose a descent subgradient algorithm for minimizing a real function, assumed to be locally Lipschitz, but not necessarily smooth or convex. To find an effective descent direction, the Goldstein subdifferential is approximated through…
We consider the problem of training a deep neural network with nonsmooth regularization to retrieve a sparse and efficient sub-structure. Our regularizer is only assumed to be lower semi-continuous and prox-bounded. We combine an adaptive…
We study a standard distributed optimization framework where $N$ networked nodes collaboratively minimize the sum of their local convex costs. The main body of existing work considers the described problem when the underling network is…
As application demands for zeroth-order (gradient-free) optimization accelerate, the need for variance reduced and faster converging approaches is also intensifying. This paper addresses these challenges by presenting: a) a comprehensive…
In this paper, we study Riemannian zeroth-order optimization in settings where the underlying Riemannian metric $g$ is geodesically incomplete, and the goal is to approximate stationary points with respect to this incomplete metric. To…