Related papers: Broximal Alignment for Global Non-Convex Optimizat…

The use of min-max optimization in adversarial training of deep neural network classifiers and training of generative adversarial networks has motivated the study of nonconvex-nonconcave optimization objectives, which frequently arise in…

Generalized and Simulated Method of Moments are often used to estimate structural Economic models. Yet, it is commonly reported that optimization is challenging because the corresponding objective function is non-convex. For smooth…

We establish novel generalization bounds for learning algorithms that converge to global minima. We do so by deriving black-box stability results that only depend on the convergence of a learning algorithm and the geometry around the…

The graduated optimization approach, also known as the continuation method, is a popular heuristic to solving non-convex problems that has received renewed interest over the last decade. Despite its popularity, very little is known in terms…

In machine learning, nonconvex optimization problems with multiple local optimums are often encountered. Graduated Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is a popular heuristic method to obtain global optimums of nonconvex problems through…

This paper investigates probabilistic robustness of nonconvex-nonconcave minimax problems via the scenario approach. Specifically, under convex strategy sets for all players, inspired by recent advances in scenario optimization, we first…

The convergence analysis of optimization algorithms using continuous-time dynamical systems has received much attention in recent years. In this paper, we investigate applications of these systems to analyze the convergence of linearized…

Optimization models with non-convex constraints arise in many tasks in machine learning, e.g., learning with fairness constraints or Neyman-Pearson classification with non-convex loss. Although many efficient methods have been developed…

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…

Global optimization is a challenging problem, with plenty of algorithms displaying empirical success, but scarce theoretical backing. In this work, we propose a new theoretical framework called Proximal Basin Hopping (PBH), carefully…

This paper presents a new deep learning-based framework for robust nonlinear estimation and control using the concept of a Neural Contraction Metric (NCM). The NCM uses a deep long short-term memory recurrent neural network for a global…

In this work, we analyze the global convergence property of coordinate gradient descent with random choice of coordinates and stepsizes for non-convex optimization problems. Under generic assumptions, we prove that the algorithm iterate…

In this paper, we focus on finding the global minimizer of a general unconstrained nonsmooth nonconvex optimization problem. Taking advantage of the smoothing method and the consensus-based optimization (CBO) method, we propose a novel…

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have shown great success in many machine learning tasks. Their training is challenging since the loss surface of the network architecture is generally non-convex, or even non-smooth. How and under what…

We present a unified framework to analyze the global convergence of Langevin dynamics based algorithms for nonconvex finite-sum optimization with $n$ component functions. At the core of our analysis is a direct analysis of the ergodicity of…

In this manuscript, we propose a general proximal quasi-Newton method tailored for nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problems, where we do not require the sequence of the variable metric (or Hessian approximation) to be uniformly bounded…

Finding an $\epsilon$-stationary point of a nonconvex function with a Lipschitz continuous Hessian is a central problem in optimization. Regularized Newton methods are a classical tool and have been studied extensively, yet they still face…

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…

This paper considers stochastic optimization problems for a large class of objective functions, including convex and continuous submodular. Stochastic proximal gradient methods have been widely used to solve such problems; however, their…

Non-convex constrained optimizations are ubiquitous in robotic applications such as multi-agent navigation, UAV trajectory optimization, and soft robot simulation. For this problem class, conventional optimizers suffer from small step sizes…