Related papers: Consensus-Based Optimization Beyond Finite-Time An…
In this work we introduce a new class of gradient-free global optimization methods based on a binary interaction dynamics governed by a Boltzmann type equation. In each interaction the particles act taking into account both the best…
We study the problem of optimizing a function under a \emph{budgeted number of evaluations}. We only assume that the function is \emph{locally} smooth around one of its global optima. The difficulty of optimization is measured in terms of…
This paper presents a piecewise convexification method for solving non-convex multi-objective optimization problems with box constraints. Based on the ideas of the $\alpha$-based Branch and Bound (${\rm \alpha BB}$) method of global…
This article derives lower bounds on the convergence rate of continuous-time gradient-based optimization algorithms. The algorithms are subjected to a time-normalization constraint that avoids a reparametrization of time in order to make…
Polymeric nano- and micro-scale particles have critical roles in tackling critical healthcare and energy challenges with their miniature characteristics. However, tailoring their synthesis process to meet specific design targets has…
Finding the global minimum of non-convex functions is one of the main and most difficult problems in modern optimization. In the first part of the paper, we consider a certain class of "good" non-convex functions that can be bounded above…
We study derivative-free methods for policy optimization over the class of linear policies. We focus on characterizing the convergence rate of these methods when applied to linear-quadratic systems, and study various settings of driving…
We propose a novel method for sampling and optimization tasks based on a stochastic interacting particle system. We explain how this method can be used for the following two goals: (i) generating approximate samples from a given target…
Bayesian optimization (BO) is a class of global optimization algorithms, suitable for minimizing an expensive objective function in as few function evaluations as possible. While BO budgets are typically given in iterations, this implicitly…
The majorization-minimization (MM) principle is an extremely general framework for deriving optimization algorithms. It includes the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, proximal gradient algorithm, concave-convex procedure, quadratic…
We consider the problem of unconstrained online convex optimization (OCO) with sub-exponential noise, a strictly more general problem than the standard OCO. In this setting, the learner receives a subgradient of the loss functions corrupted…
Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a well-established method for addressing black-box optimization problems. In many real-world scenarios, optimization often involves multiple functions, emphasizing the importance of leveraging data and learned…
We propose an algorithm to approximate solutions of global optimization problems in Sobolev spaces that follows the spirit of Consensus-based algorithms in finite dimensions. The main ingredient are Gaussian processes. In fact, we exploit…
Block majorization-minimization (BMM) is a simple iterative algorithm for constrained nonconvex optimization that sequentially minimizes majorizing surrogates of the objective function in each block while the others are held fixed. BMM…
Objective functions in large-scale machine-learning and artificial intelligence applications often live in high dimensions with strong non-convexity and massive local minima. First-order methods, such as the stochastic gradient method and…
This paper extends algorithms that remove the fixed point bias of decentralized gradient descent to solve the more general problem of distributed optimization over subspace constraints. Leveraging the integral quadratic constraint…
An algorithm for unconstrained non-convex optimization is described, which does not evaluate the objective function and in which minimization is carried out, at each iteration, within a randomly selected subspace. It is shown that this…
We study a class of zeroth-order distributed optimization problems, where each agent can control a partial vector and observe a local cost that depends on the joint vector of all agents, and the agents can communicate with each other with…
This paper presents a novel algorithm integrating global and robust optimization methods to solve continuous non-convex quadratic problems under convex uncertainty sets. The proposed Robust spatial branch-and-bound (RsBB) algorithm combines…
We study the problem of distributed zero-order optimization for a class of strongly convex functions. They are formed by the average of local objectives, associated to different nodes in a prescribed network of connections. We propose a…