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Zeroth-order optimization is the process of minimizing an objective $f(x)$, given oracle access to evaluations at adaptively chosen inputs $x$. In this paper, we present two simple yet powerful GradientLess Descent (GLD) algorithms that do…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-05-20 Daniel Golovin , John Karro , Greg Kochanski , Chansoo Lee , Xingyou Song , Qiuyi Zhang

In this paper we propose a variant of the random coordinate descent method for solving linearly constrained convex optimization problems with composite objective functions. If the smooth part of the objective function has Lipschitz…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2013-02-14 Ion Necoara , Andrei Patrascu

We present a subgradient method for minimizing non-smooth, non-Lipschitz convex optimization problems. The only structure assumed is that a strictly feasible point is known. We extend the work of Renegar [5] by taking a different…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-02-28 Benjamin Grimmer

We consider the fundamental problem in non-convex optimization of efficiently reaching a stationary point. In contrast to the convex case, in the long history of this basic problem, the only known theoretical results on first-order…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-08-26 Zeyuan Allen-Zhu , Elad Hazan

This paper formalizes and analyzes Gaussian smoothing applied to two prominent optimization methods: Stochastic Gradient Descent (GSmoothSGD) and Adam (GSmoothAdam) in deep learning. By attenuating small fluctuations, Gaussian smoothing…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-11-19 Andrew Starnes , Clayton Webster

Our work focuses on stochastic gradient methods for optimizing a smooth non-convex loss function with a non-smooth non-convex regularizer. Research on this class of problem is quite limited, and until recently no non-asymptotic convergence…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-05-15 Michael R. Metel , Akiko Takeda

To solve convex optimization problems with a noisy gradient input, we analyze the global behavior of subgradient-like flows under stochastic errors. The objective function is composite, being equal to the sum of two convex functions, one…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-06-05 Rodrigo Maulen-Soto , Jalal Fadili , Hedy Attouch

In this paper we consider a distributed stochastic optimization problem without the gradient/subgradient information for the local objective functions, subject to local convex constraints. The objective functions may be non-smooth and…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2018-06-25 Yinghui Wang , Wenxiao Zhao , Yiguang Hong , Mohsen Zamani

The (global) Lipschitz smoothness condition is crucial in establishing the convergence theory for most optimization methods. Unfortunately, most machine learning and signal processing problems are not Lipschitz smooth. This motivates us to…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-04-23 Qiuwei Li , Zhihui Zhu , Gongguo Tang , Michael B. Wakin

Zeroth-order optimization aims to minimize an objective function using only function evaluations, and is therefore fundamental in black-box optimization, hyperparameter tuning, bandit learning, and adversarial machine learning. While…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-28 Haishan Ye

A stochastic-gradient-based interior-point algorithm for minimizing a continuously differentiable objective function (that may be nonconvex) subject to bound constraints is presented, analyzed, and demonstrated through experimental results.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-03-15 Frank E. Curtis , Vyacheslav Kungurtsev , Daniel P. Robinson , Qi Wang

This paper studies a compressed momentum-based single-point zeroth-order algorithm for stochastic distributed nonconvex optimization, aiming to alleviate communication overhead and address the unavailability of explicit gradient…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-05-12 Linjing Chen , Antai Xie , Xinlei Yi , Xiaoqiang Ren , Xiaofan Wang

Classical convergence analyses for optimization algorithms rely on the widely-adopted uniform smoothness assumption. However, recent experimental studies have demonstrated that many machine learning problems exhibit non-uniform smoothness,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-09-27 Zhenyu Sun , Ermin Wei

In this paper, we study stochastic non-convex optimization with non-convex random functions. Recent studies on non-convex optimization revolve around establishing second-order convergence, i.e., converging to a nearly second-order optimal…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-11-02 Mingrui Liu , Tianbao Yang

Recent studies have shown that many nonconvex machine learning problems satisfy a generalized-smooth condition that extends beyond traditional smooth nonconvex optimization. However, the existing algorithms are not fully adapted to such…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-10-03 Yufeng Yang , Erin Tripp , Yifan Sun , Shaofeng Zou , Yi Zhou

Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) is one of the simplest and most popular stochastic optimization methods. While it has already been theoretically studied for decades, the classical analysis usually required non-trivial smoothness…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2013-01-01 Ohad Shamir , Tong Zhang

In this paper, we study nonconvex constrained stochastic zeroth-order optimization problems, for which we have access to exact information of constraints and noisy function values of the objective. We propose a Bregman linearized augmented…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-15 Qiankun Shi , Xiao Wang , Hao Wang

In this work, we develop analysis and algorithms for a class of (stochastic) bilevel optimization problems whose lower-level (LL) problem is strongly convex and linearly constrained. Most existing approaches for solving such problems rely…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-08 Prashant Khanduri , Ioannis Tsaknakis , Yihua Zhang , Sijia Liu , Mingyi Hong

This paper is devoted to a new modification of a recently proposed adaptive stochastic mirror descent algorithm for constrained convex optimization problems in the case of several convex functional constraints. Algorithms, standard and its…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-01-22 Mohammad S. Alkousa

We study a class of optimization problems on Riemannian manifolds, where the objective function consists of a smooth term and quasi-norm type penalties with exponent $p \in (0, 1]$. The essential difficulty lies in the fact that the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-21 Lei Wang , Xiaojun Chen