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We propose a novel zeroth-order optimization algorithm based on an efficient sampling strategy. Under mild global regularity conditions on the objective function, we establish non-asymptotic convergence rates for the proposed method.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-09-24 Xicheng Zhang

In this paper, we propose a novel class of Piecewise Deterministic Markov Processes (PDMPs) that are designed to sample from probability distributions $\pi$ supported on a convex set $\mathcal{M}$. This class of PDMPs adapts the concept of…

Computation · Statistics 2026-05-01 Joël Tatang Demano , Paul Dobson , Konstantinos Zygalakis

This paper investigates a category of constrained fractional optimization problems that emerge in various practical applications. The objective function for this category is characterized by the ratio of a numerator and denominator, both…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-05-28 Yizun Lin , Jian-Feng Cai , Zhao-Rong Lai , Cheng Li

We study sampling problems associated with non-convex potentials that meanwhile lack smoothness. In particular, we consider target distributions that satisfy either logarithmic-Sobolev inequality or Poincar\'e inequality. Rather than…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-02-21 Jiaming Liang , Yongxin Chen

Most approximation methods in high dimensions exploit smoothness of the function being approximated. These methods provide poor convergence results for non-smooth functions with kinks. For example, such kinks can arise in the uncertainty…

Numerical Analysis · Mathematics 2019-02-19 Barbara Fuchs , Jochen Garcke

In this work, we present a globalized stochastic semismooth Newton method for solving stochastic optimization problems involving smooth nonconvex and nonsmooth convex terms in the objective function. We assume that only noisy gradient and…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-03-12 Andre Milzarek , Xiantao Xiao , Shicong Cen , Zaiwen Wen , Michael Ulbrich

This paper proposes a stochastic gradient descent method with an adaptive Gaussian noise term for the global minimization of nearly convex functions, which are nonconvex and possess multiple strict local minimizers. The noise term,…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-08-05 Chenglong Bao , Liang Chen , Weizhi Shao

Recently a new algorithm for sampling posteriors of unnormalised probability densities, called ABC Shadow, was proposed in [8]. This talk introduces a global optimisation procedure based on the ABC Shadow simulation dynamics. First the…

Computation · Statistics 2018-03-20 R. S. Stoica , M. Deaconu , L. Hurtado

Maximizing high-dimensional, non-convex functions through noisy observations is a notoriously hard problem, but one that arises in many applications. In this paper, we tackle this challenge by modeling the unknown function as a sample from…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2012-07-03 Bo Chen , Rui Castro , Andreas Krause

In this paper we propose two proximal gradient algorithms for fractional programming problems in real Hilbert spaces, where the numerator is a proper, convex and lower semicontinuous function and the denominator is a smooth function, either…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-02-01 Radu Ioan Bot , Ernö Robert Csetnek

We consider minimization of functions that are compositions of convex or prox-regular functions (possibly extended-valued) with smooth vector functions. A wide variety of important optimization problems fall into this framework. We describe…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-04-24 A. S. Lewis , S. J. Wright

Sampling from discrete distributions is a ubiquitous task in machine learning, recently revisited by the emergence of discrete diffusion models. While Langevin algorithms constitute the state of the art for continuous spaces, discrete…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2026-02-18 Armand Gissler , Saeed Saremi , Francis Bach

This paper studies the problem of mapping optimization in decentralized control problems. A global optimization algorithm is proposed based on the ideas of ``deterministic annealing" - a powerful non-convex optimization framework derived…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2014-03-24 Mustafa Mehmetoglu , Emrah Akyol , Kenneth Rose

In this work, we develop an adaptive, multivariate partitioning algorithm for solving mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLP) with multi-linear terms to global optimality. This iterative algorithm primarily exploits the advantages of…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-02-05 Harsha Nagarajan , Mowen Lu , Site Wang , Russell Bent , Kaarthik Sundar

We introduce a clipping strategy for Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) which uses quantiles of the gradient norm as clipping thresholds. We prove that this new strategy provides a robust and efficient optimization algorithm for smooth…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2024-10-15 Ibrahim Merad , Stéphane Gaïffas

Minimizing a convex function of a measure with a sparsity-inducing penalty is a typical problem arising, e.g., in sparse spikes deconvolution or two-layer neural networks training. We show that this problem can be solved by discretizing the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-11-04 Lenaic Chizat

In this paper, we propose a simple global optimisation algorithm inspired by Pareto's principle. This algorithm samples most of its solutions within prominent search domains and is equipped with a self-adaptive mechanism to control the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-03-30 Mahmoud Shaqfa , Katrin Beyer

This paper proposes novel algorithm for non-convex multimodal constrained optimisation problems. It is based on sequential solving restrictions of problem to sections of feasible set by random subspaces (in general, manifolds) of low…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-03-28 Dmitry A. Pasechnyuk , Alexander Gornov

The motivation for this paper stems from the desire to develop an adaptive sampling method for solving constrained optimization problems in which the objective function is stochastic and the constraints are deterministic. The method…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-01-01 Yuchen Xie , Raghu Bollapragada , Richard Byrd , Jorge Nocedal

Second-order methods are of great importance for composite convex optimization problems due to their local super-linear convergence rates (under appropriate assumptions). However, the presence of even a simple nonsmooth function in the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-12-19 Dan Garber