Related papers: Derivative-Free Optimization via Finite Difference…
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…
This paper is concerned with sequential filtering based stochastic optimization (FSO) approaches that leverage a probabilistic perspective to implement the incremental proximity method (IPM). The present FSO methods are derived based on the…
This paper presents an algorithmic framework for solving unconstrained stochastic optimization problems using only stochastic function evaluations. We employ central finite-difference based gradient estimation methods to approximate the…
First-order methods for stochastic optimization have undeniable relevance, in part due to their pivotal role in machine learning. Variance reduction for these algorithms has become an important research topic. In contrast to common…
We present approximation theories and efficient training methods for derivative-informed Fourier neural operators (DIFNOs) with applications to PDE-constrained optimization. A DIFNO is an FNO trained by minimizing its prediction error…
Motivated by applications in emergency response and experimental design, we consider smooth stochastic optimization problems over probability measures supported on compact subsets of the Euclidean space. With the influence function as the…
We provide several quantum algorithms for continuous optimization that do not require gradient estimation. Instead, we encode the optimization problem into the dynamics of a physical system and coherently simulate the time evolution. We…
The Frank-Wolfe optimization algorithm has recently regained popularity for machine learning applications due to its projection-free property and its ability to handle structured constraints. However, in the stochastic learning setting, it…
This paper focuses on the problem of \emph{constrained} \emph{stochastic} optimization. A zeroth order Frank-Wolfe algorithm is proposed, which in addition to the projection-free nature of the vanilla Frank-Wolfe algorithm makes it gradient…
A broad class of convex optimization problems can be formulated as a semidefinite program (SDP), minimization of a convex function over the positive-semidefinite cone subject to some affine constraints. The majority of classical SDP solvers…
Solving partial differential equations (PDEs) efficiently is essential for analyzing complex physical systems. Recent advancements in leveraging deep learning for solving PDE have shown significant promise. However, machine learning…
Stochastic Gradient (SG) is the defacto iterative technique to solve stochastic optimization (SO) problems with a smooth (non-convex) objective $f$ and a stochastic first-order oracle. SG's attractiveness is due in part to its simplicity of…
In this paper, we consider approximate Frank-Wolfe (FW) algorithms to solve convex optimization problems over graph-structured support sets where the linear minimization oracle (LMO) cannot be efficiently obtained in general. We first…
In this paper, we analyze several methods for approximating gradients of noisy functions using only function values. These methods include finite differences, linear interpolation, Gaussian smoothing and smoothing on a sphere. The methods…
In this work, we propose a heuristic based open source solver for finding global solution to constrained derivative-free optimization (DFO) problems. Our solver named Global optimization using Surrogates for Derivative-free Optimization…
In this paper, we illustrate a novel method for solving optimization problems when derivatives are not explicitly available. We show that combining implicit filtering (IF), an existing derivative free optimization (DFO) method, with a deep…
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…
We propose an enhanced zeroth-order stochastic Frank-Wolfe framework to address constrained finite-sum optimization problems, a structure prevalent in large-scale machine-learning applications. Our method introduces a novel double variance…
Traditional approaches to portfolio optimization, often rooted in Modern Portfolio Theory and solved via quadratic programming or evolutionary algorithms, struggle with scalability or flexibility, especially in scenarios involving complex…
This paper studies Bayesian ranking and selection (R&S) problems with correlated prior beliefs and continuous domains, i.e. Bayesian optimization (BO). Knowledge gradient methods [Frazier et al., 2008, 2009] have been widely studied for…