On the Stability of the Feasible Set in Linear Optimization

This paper deals with the stability of two families of linear optimization problems, each one formed by the dual problems to the members of the other family. We characterize the problems of these families that are stable in the sense that they remain consistent (inconsistent) under sufficiently small arbitrary perturbations of all the data. This characterization is established in terms of the lower semicontinuity property of the feasible set mapping and the boundedness of the optimal set of the corresponding coupled problem. Other continuity properties of the feasible set mapping are also derived. This stability theory extends some well-known theorems of Williams and Robinson on the stability of ordinary linear programming problems to linear optimization problems with infinitely many variables or constraints.     

Solving Strategies and Well-Posedness in Linear Semi-Infinite Programming

In this paper we introduce the concept of solving strategy for a linear semi-infinite programming problem, whose index set is arbitrary and whose coefficient functions have no special property at all. In particular, we consider two strategies which either approximately solve or exactly solve the approximating problems, respectively. Our principal aim is to establish a global framework to cope with different concepts of well-posedness spread out in the literature. Any concept of well-posedness should entail different properties of these strategies, even in the case that we are not assuming the boundedness of the optimal set. In the paper we consider three desirable properties, leading to an exhaustive study of them in relation to both strategies. The more significant results are summarized in a table, which allows us to show the double goal of the paper. On the one hand, we characterize the main features of each strategy, in terms of certain stability properties (lower and upper semicontinuity) of the feasible set mapping, optimal value function and optimal set mapping. On the other hand, and associated with some cells of the table, we recognize different notions of Hadamard well-posedness. We also provide an application to the analysis of the Hadamard well-posedness for a linear semi-infinite formulation of the Lagrangian dual of a nonlinear programming problem.     

Convex Semi-Infinite Parametric Programming: Uniform Convergence of the Optimal Value Functions of Discretized Problems

The continuity of the optimal value function of a parametric convex semi-infinite program is secured by a weak regularity condition that also implies the convergence of certain discretization methods for semi-infinite problems. Since each discretization level yields a parametric program, a sequence of optimal value functions occurs. The regularity condition implies that, with increasing refinement of the discretization, this sequence converges uniformly with respect to the parameter to the optimal value function corresponding to the original semi-infinite problem. Our result is applicable to the convergence analysis of numerical algorithms based on parametric programming, for example, rational approximation and computation of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian.     

参数凸二次规划的线性稳定性

本文研究参数凸二次规划的最优解集的稳定性。首先给出参数数学规划的方向线性稳定的定义，然后利用集值映射的微分理论证明线性约束参数凸二次规划是线性稳定的。     

Stability in convex semi-infinite programming and rates of convergence of optimal solutions of discretized finite subproblems

We consider convex semiinfinite programming (SIP) problems with an arbitrary fixed index set T. The article analyzes the relationship between the upper and lower semicontinuity (lsc) of the optimal value function and the optimal set mapping, and the so-called Hadamard well-posedness property (allowing for more than one optimal solution). We consider the family of all functions involved in some fixed optimization problem as one element of a space of data equipped with some topology, and arbitrary perturbations are premitted as long as the perturbed problem continues to be convex semiinfinite. Since no structure is required for T, our results apply to the ordinary convex programming case. We also provide conditions, not involving any second order optimality one, guaranteeing that the distance between optimal solutions of the discretized subproblems and the optimal set of the original problem decreases by a rate which is linear with respect to the discretization mesh-size.     

A Branch-and-Bound Approach for Solving a Class of Generalized Semi-infinite Programming Problems

A nonconvex generalized semi-infinite programming problem is considered, involving parametric max-functions in both the objective and the constraints. For a fixed vector of parameters, the values of these parametric max-functions are given as optimal values of convex quadratic programming problems. Assuming that for each parameter the parametric quadratic problems satisfy the strong duality relation, conditions are described ensuring the uniform boundedness of the optimal sets of the dual problems w.r.t. the parameter. Finally a branch-and-bound approach is suggested transforming the problem of finding an approximate global minimum of the original nonconvex optimization problem into the solution of a finite number of convex problems.     

A relaxed cutting plane method for semi-infinite semi-definite programming

In this paper, we develop two discretization algorithms with a cutting plane scheme for solving combined semi-infinite and semi-definite programming problems, i.e., a general algorithm when the parameter set is a compact set and a typical algorithm when the parameter set is a box set in the m-dimensional space. We prove that the accumulation point of the sequence points generated by the two algorithms is an optimal solution of the combined semi-infinite and semi-definite programming problem under suitable assumption conditions. Two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the typical algorithm.     

Convergence and Application of a Decomposition Method Using Duality Bounds for Nonconvex Global Optimization

The subject of this article is a class of global optimization problems, in which the variables can be divided into two groups such that, in each group, the functions involved have the same structure (e.g. linear, convex or concave, etc.). Based on the decomposition idea of Benders (Ref. 1), a corresponding master problem is defined on the space of one of the two groups of variables. The objective function of this master problem is in fact the optimal value function of a nonlinear parametric optimization problem. To solve the resulting master problem, a branch-and-bound scheme is proposed, in which the estimation of the lower bounds is performed by applying the well-known weak duality theorem in Lagrange duality. The results of this article concentrate on two subjects: investigating the convergence of the general algorithm and solving dual problems of some special classes of nonconvex optimization problems. Based on results in sensitivity and stability theory and in parametric optimization, conditions for the convergence are established by investigating the so-called dual properness property and the upper semicontinuity of the objective function of the master problem. The general algorithm is then discussed in detail for some nonconvex problems including concave minimization problems with a special structure, general quadratic problems, optimization problems on the efficient set, and linear multiplicative programming problems.     

Distributionally robust optimization with matrix moment constraints: Lagrange duality and cutting plane methods

A key step in solving minimax distributionally robust optimization (DRO) problems is to reformulate the inner maximization w.r.t. probability measure as a semiinfinite programming problem through Lagrange dual. Slater type conditions have been widely used for strong duality (zero dual gap) when the ambiguity set is defined through moments. In this paper, we investigate effective ways for verifying the Slater type conditions and introduce other conditions which are based on lower semicontinuity of the optimal value function of the inner maximization problem. Moreover, we propose two discretization schemes for solving the DRO with one for the dualized DRO and the other directly through the ambiguity set of the DRO. In the absence of strong duality, the discretization scheme via Lagrange duality may provide an upper bound for the optimal value of the DRO whereas the direct discretization approach provides a lower bound. Two cutting plane schemes are consequently proposed: one for the discretized dualized DRO and the other for the minimax DRO with discretized ambiguity set. Convergence analysis is presented for the approximation schemes in terms of the optimal value, optimal solutions and stationary points. Comparative numerical results are reported for the resulting algorithms.

     

Continuity of the optimal value function in indefinite quadratic programming

This paper characterizes the continuity property of the optimal value function in a general parametric quadratic programming problem with linear constraints. The lower semicontinuity and upper semicontinuity properties of the optimal value function are studied as well.     

On the Lipschitz Modulus of the Argmin Mapping in Linear Semi-Infinite Optimization

This paper is devoted to quantify the Lipschitzian behavior of the optimal solutions set in linear optimization under perturbations of the objective function and the right hand side of the constraints (inequalities). In our model, the set indexing the constraints is assumed to be a compact metric space and all coefficients depend continuously on the index. The paper provides a lower bound on the Lipschitz modulus of the optimal set mapping (also called argmin mapping), which, under our assumptions, is single-valued and Lipschitz continuous near the nominal parameter. This lower bound turns out to be the exact modulus in ordinary linear programming, as well as in the semi-infinite case under some additional hypothesis which always holds for dimensions n ? 3. The expression for the lower bound (or exact modulus) only depends on the nominal problem’s coefficients, providing an operative formula from the practical side, specially in the particular framework of ordinary linear programming, where it constitutes the sharp Lipschitz constant. In the semi-infinite case, the problem of whether or not the lower bound equals the exact modulus for n > 3 under weaker hypotheses (or none) remains as an open problem.     

Continuity and Stability of a Quadratic Mixed-Integer Stochastic Program

For the two-stage quadratic stochastic program where the second-stage problem is a general mixed-integer quadratic program with a random linear term in the objective function and random right-hand sides in constraints, we study continuity properties of the second-stage optimal value as a function of both the first-stage policy and the random parameter vector. We also present sufficient conditions for lower or upper semicontinuity, continuity, and Lipschitz continuity of the second-stage problem's optimal value function and the upper semicontinuity of the optimal solution set mapping with respect to the first-stage variables and/or the random parameter vector. These results then enable us to establish conclusions on the stability of optimal value and optimal solutions when the underlying probability distribution is perturbed with respect to the weak convergence of probability measures.     

Understanding linear semi-infinite programming via linear programming over cones

In this article, the standard primal and dual linear semi-infinite programming (DLSIP) problems are reformulated as linear programming (LP) problems over cones. Therefore, the dual formulation via the minimal cone approach, which results in zero duality gap for the primal–dual pair for LP problems over cones, can be applied to linear semi-infinite programming (LSIP) problems. Results on the geometry of the set of the feasible solutions for the primal LSIP problem and the optimality criteria for the DLSIP problem are also discussed.     

On Constraint Qualifications in Nonsmooth Optimization

We introduce extensions of the Mangasarian-Fromovitz and Abadie constraint qualifications to nonsmooth optimization problems with feasibility given by means of lower-level sets. We do not assume directional differentiability, but only upper semicontinuity of the defining functions. By deriving and reviewing primal first-order optimality conditions for nonsmooth problems, we motivate the formulations of the constraint qualifications. Then, we study their interrelation, and we show how they are related to the Slater condition for nonsmooth convex problems, to nonsmooth reverse-convex problems, to the stability of parametric feasible set mappings, and to alternative theorems for the derivation of dual first-order optimality conditions.In the literature on general semi-infinite programming problems, a number of formally different extensions of the Mangasarian-Fromovitz constraint qualification have been introduced recently under different structural assumptions. We show that all these extensions are unified by the constraint qualification presented here.     

不等式约束随机非线性规划的扰动Karush-Kuhn-Tucker系统的解路径

论文聚焦概率测度发生扰动时的随机非线性规划的稳定性分析的研究.目标函数的Lipschitz连续性和可行集值映射的度量正则性条件可保证最优解集合的外半连续性和最优值的Lipschitz连续性.更重要地,本文证明了,如果原问题的极小点处线性无关约束规范和强二阶充分性条件成立,那么存在一Lipschitz连续的解路径满足扰动问题的Karush-Kuhn-Tucker条件.     

ℓ1-Minimization with Magnitude Constraints in the Frequency Domain

In this paper, we study the -optimal control problem with additional constraints on the magnitude of the closed-loop frequency response. In particular, we study the case of magnitude constraints at fixed frequency points (a finite number of such constraints can be used to approximate an -norm constraint). In previous work, we have shown that the primal-dual formulation for this problem has no duality gap and both primal and dual problems are equivalent to convex, possibly infinite-dimensional, optimization problems with LMI constraints. Here, we study the effect of approximating the convex magnitude constraints with a finite number of linear constraints and provide a bound on the accuracy of the approximation. The resulting problems are linear programs. In the one-block case, both primal and dual programs are semi-infinite dimensional. The optimal cost can be approximated, arbitrarily well from above and within any predefined accuracy from below, by the solutions of finite-dimensional linear programs. In the multiblock case, the approximate LP problem (as well as the exact LMI problem) is infinite-dimensional in both the variables and the constraints. We show that the standard finite-dimensional approximation method, based on approximating the dual linear programming problem by sequences of finite-support problems, may fail to converge to the optimal cost of the infinite-dimensional problem.     

Conditions for the uniqueness of the optimal solution in linear semi-infinite programming

In this paper, we establish different conditions for the uniqueness of the optimal solution of a semi-infinite programming problem. The approach here is based on the differentiability properties of the optimal value function and yields the corresponding extensions to the general linear semi-infinite case of many results provided by Mangasarian and others. In addition, detailed optimality conditions for the most general problem are supplied, and some features of the optimal set mapping are discussed. Finally, we obtain a dimensional characterization of the optimal set, provided that a usual closedness condition (Farkas-Minkowski condition) holds.     

Semi-Infinite Programming Approach to Continuously-Constrained Linear-Quadratic Optimal Control Problems

Consider the class of linear-quadratic (LQ) optimal control problems with continuous linear state constraints, that is, constraints imposed on every instant of the time horizon. This class of problems is known to be difficult to solve numerically. In this paper, a computational method based on a semi-infinite programming approach is given. The LQ optimal control problem is formulated as a positive-quadratic infinite programming problem. This can be done by considering the control as the decision variable, while taking the state as a function of the control. After parametrizing the decision variable, an approximate quadratic semi-infinite programming problem is obtained. It is shown that, as we refine the parametrization, the solution sequence of the approximate problems converges to the solution of the infinite programming problem (hence, to the solution of the original optimal control problem). Numerically, the semi-infinite programming problems obtained above can be solved efficiently using an algorithm based on a dual parametrization method.     

Painlevé–Kuratowski stability of approximate efficient solutions for perturbed semi-infinite vector optimization problems

This paper is concerned with the stability of semi-infinite vector optimization problems (SIVOP) under functional perturbations of both objective functions and constraint sets. First, we establish the Berge-lower semicontinuity and Painlevé–Kuratowski convergence of the constraint set mapping. Then, using the obtained results, we obtain sufficient conditions of Painlevé–Kuratowski stability for approximate efficient solution mapping and approximate weakly efficient solution mapping to the (SIVOP). Furthermore, an application to the traffic network equilibrium problems is also given.