English

On the global convergence of randomized coordinate gradient descent for non-convex optimization

Optimization and Control 2022-12-01 v2 Numerical Analysis Dynamical Systems Numerical Analysis

Abstract

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 will almost surely escape strict saddle points of the objective function. As a result, the algorithm is guaranteed to converge to local minima if all saddle points are strict. Our proof is based on viewing coordinate descent algorithm as a nonlinear random dynamical system and a quantitative finite block analysis of its linearization around saddle points.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.01323,
  title  = {On the global convergence of randomized coordinate gradient descent for non-convex optimization},
  author = {Ziang Chen and Yingzhou Li and Jianfeng Lu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.01323},
  year   = {2022}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T21:46:50.542Z