Globally solving box-constrained nonconvex quadratic programs with semidefinite-based finite branch-and-bound

We consider a recent branch-and-bound algorithm of the authors for nonconvex quadratic programming. The algorithm is characterized by its use of semidefinite relaxations within a finite branching scheme. In this paper, we specialize the algorithm to the box-constrained case and study its implementation, which is shown to be a state-of-the-art method for globally solving box-constrained nonconvex quadratic programs. S. Burer was supported in part by NSF Grants CCR-0203426 and CCF-0545514.     

Global Optimization of Nonconvex Polynomial Programming Problems Having Rational Exponents

This paper considers the solution of nonconvex polynomial programming problems that arise in various engineering design, network distribution, and location-allocation contexts. These problems generally have nonconvex polynomial objective functions and constraints, involving terms of mixed-sign coefficients (as in signomial geometric programs) that have rational exponents on variables. For such problems, we develop an extension of the Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) to generate linear programming relaxations that are embedded within a branch-and-bound algorithm. Suitable branching or partitioning strategies are designed for which convergence to a global optimal solution is established. The procedure is illustrated using a numerical example, and several possible extensions and algorithmic enhancements are discussed.     

Globally solving nonconvex quadratic programming problems via completely positive programming

Nonconvex quadratic programming (QP) is an NP-hard problem that optimizes a general quadratic function over linear constraints. This paper introduces a new global optimization algorithm for this problem, which combines two ideas from the literature—finite branching based on the first-order KKT conditions and polyhedral-semidefinite relaxations of completely positive (or copositive) programs. Through a series of computational experiments comparing the new algorithm with existing codes on a diverse set of test instances, we demonstrate that the new algorithm is an attractive method for globally solving nonconvex QP.     

A simplicial branch-and-bound algorithm for solving quadratically constrained quadratic programs

We propose a branch-and-bound algorithm for solving nonconvex quadratically-constrained quadratic programs. The algorithm is novel in that branching is done by partitioning the feasible region into the Cartesian product of two-dimensional triangles and rectangles. Explicit formulae for the convex and concave envelopes of bilinear functions over triangles and rectangles are derived and shown to be second-order cone representable. The usefulness of these new relaxations is demonstrated both theoretically and computationally.     

Global optimization for sum of generalized fractional functions

This paper considers the solution of generalized fractional programming (GFP) problem which contains various variants such as a sum or product of a finite number of ratios of linear functions, polynomial fractional programming, generalized geometric programming, etc. over a polytope. For such problems, we present an efficient unified method. In this method, by utilizing a transformation and a two-part linearization method, a sequence of linear programming relaxations of the initial nonconvex programming problem are derived which are embedded in a branch-and-bound algorithm. Numerical results are given to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Enhancing RLT relaxations via a new class of semidefinite cuts

In this paper, we propose a mechanism to tighten Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) based relaxations for solving nonconvex programming problems by importing concepts from semidefinite programming (SDP), leading to a new class of semidefinite cutting planes. Given an RLT relaxation, the usual nonnegativity restrictions on the matrix of RLT product variables is replaced by a suitable positive semidefinite constraint. Instead of relying on specific SDP solvers, the positive semidefinite stipulation is re-written to develop a semi-infinite linear programming representation of the problem, and an approach is developed that can be implemented using traditional optimization software. Specifically, the infinite set of constraints is relaxed, and members of this set are generated as needed via a separation routine in polynomial time. In essence, this process yields an RLT relaxation that is augmented with valid inequalities, which are themselves classes of RLT constraints that we call semidefinite cuts. These semidefinite cuts comprise a relaxation of the underlying semidefinite constraint. We illustrate this strategy by applying it to the case of optimizing a nonconvex quadratic objective function over a simplex. The algorithm has been implemented in C++, using CPLEX callable routines, and two types of semidefinite restrictions are explored along with several implementation strategies. Several of the most promising lower bounding strategies have been implemented within a branch-and-bound framework. Computational results indicate that the cutting plane algorithm provides a significant tightening of the lower bound obtained by using RLT alone. Moreover, when used within a branch-and-bound framework, the proposed lower bound significantly reduces the effort required to obtain globally optimal solutions.     

Duality Bound Method for the General Quadratic Programming Problem with Quadratic Constraints

The purpose of this article is to develop a branch-and-bound algorithm using duality bounds for the general quadratically-constrained quadratic programming problem and having the following properties: (i) duality bounds are computed by solving ordinary linear programs; (ii) they are at least as good as the lower bounds obtained by solving relaxed problems, in which each nonconvex function is replaced by its convex envelope; (iii) standard convergence properties of branch-and-bound algorithms for nonconvex global optimization problems are guaranteed. Numerical results of preliminary computational experiments for the case of one quadratic constraint are reported.     

Relaxing the optimality conditions of box QP

We present semidefinite relaxations of nonconvex, box-constrained quadratic programming, which incorporate the first- and second-order necessary optimality conditions, and establish theoretical relationships between the new relaxations and a basic semidefinite relaxation due to Shor. We compare these relaxations in the context of branch-and-bound to determine a global optimal solution, where it is shown empirically that the new relaxations are significantly stronger than Shor’s. An effective branching strategy is also developed.     

Global optimization of nonconvex factorable programming problems

In this paper, we consider a special class of nonconvex programming problems for which the objective function and constraints are defined in terms of general nonconvex factorable functions. We propose a branch-and-bound approach based on linear programming relaxations generated through various approximation schemes that utilize, for example, the Mean-Value Theorem and Chebyshev interpolation polynomials coordinated with a Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT). A suitable partitioning process is proposed that induces convergence to a global optimum. The algorithm has been implemented in C++ and some preliminary computational results are reported on a set of fifteen engineering process control and design test problems from various sources in the literature. The results indicate that the proposed procedure generates tight relaxations, even via the initial node linear program itself. Furthermore, for nine of these fifteen problems, the application of a local search method that is initialized at the LP relaxation solution produced the actual global optimum at the initial node of the enumeration tree. Moreover, for two test cases, the global optimum found improves upon the solutions previously reported in the source literature. Received: January 14, 1998 / Accepted: June 7, 1999?Published online December 15, 2000     

A Simplicial Branch-and-Bound Method for Solving Nonconvex All-Quadratic Programs

In this paper we present an algorithm for solving nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programs (all-quadratic programs). The method is based on a simplicial branch-and-bound scheme involving mainly linear programming subproblems. Under the assumption that a feasible point of the all-quadratic program is known, the algorithm guarantees an -approximate optimal solution in a finite number of iterations. Computational experiments with an implementation of the procedure are reported on randomly generated test problems. The presented algorithm often outperforms a comparable rectangular branch-and-bound method.     

A reformulation-convexification approach for solving nonconvex quadratic programming problems

In this paper, we consider the class of linearly constrained nonconvex quadratic programming problems, and present a new approach based on a novel Reformulation-Linearization/Convexification Technique. In this approach, a tight linear (or convex) programming relaxation, or outer-approximation to the convex envelope of the objective function over the constrained region, is constructed for the problem by generating new constraints through the process of employing suitable products of constraints and using variable redefinitions. Various such relaxations are considered and analyzed, including ones that retain some useful nonlinear relationships. Efficient solution techniques are then explored for solving these relaxations in order to derive lower and upper bounds on the problem, and appropriate branching/partitioning strategies are used in concert with these bounding techniques to derive a convergent algorithm. Computational results are presented on a set of test problems from the literature to demonstrate the efficiency of the approach. (One of these test problems had not previously been solved to optimality). It is shown that for many problems, the initial relaxation itself produces an optimal solution.     

解带有二次约束二次规划的一个整体优化方法

在本文中，我们提出了一种解带有二次约束二次规划问题（QP）的新算法，这种方法是基于单纯形分枝定界技术，其中包括极小极大问题和线性规划问题作为子问题，利用拉格朗日松弛和投影次梯度方法来确定问题（QP）最优值的下界，在问题（QP）的可行域是n维的条件下，如果这个算法有限步后终止，得到的点必是问题（QP）的整体最优解；否则，该算法产生的点的序列{v^k}的每一个聚点也必是问题（QP）的整体最优解。     

Global optimization of a class of nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programming problems

In this paper we study a class of nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic programming problems generalized from relaxations of quadratic assignment problems. We show that each problem is polynomially solved. Strong duality holds if a redundant constraint is introduced. As an application, a new lower bound is proposed for the quadratic assignment problem.     

Conic mixed-integer rounding cuts

A conic integer program is an integer programming problem with conic constraints. Many problems in finance, engineering, statistical learning, and probabilistic optimization are modeled using conic constraints. Here we study mixed-integer sets defined by second-order conic constraints. We introduce general-purpose cuts for conic mixed-integer programming based on polyhedral conic substructures of second-order conic sets. These cuts can be readily incorporated in branch-and-bound algorithms that solve either second-order conic programming or linear programming relaxations of conic integer programs at the nodes of the branch-and-bound tree. Central to our approach is a reformulation of the second-order conic constraints with polyhedral second-order conic constraints in a higher dimensional space. In this representation the cuts we develop are linear, even though they are nonlinear in the original space of variables. This feature leads to a computationally efficient implementation of nonlinear cuts for conic mixed-integer programming. The reformulation also allows the use of polyhedral methods for conic integer programming. We report computational results on solving unstructured second-order conic mixed-integer problems as well as mean–variance capital budgeting problems and least-squares estimation problems with binary inputs. Our computational experiments show that conic mixed-integer rounding cuts are very effective in reducing the integrality gap of continuous relaxations of conic mixed-integer programs and, hence, improving their solvability. This research has been supported, in part, by Grant # DMI0700203 from the National Science Foundation.     

使用自正则度量的凸二次规划的原始对偶内点法的多项式复杂性

最近Peng等人使用新的搜索方向和自正则度量为求解线性规划问题提出了一个原始对偶内点法.本文将这个长步法延伸到凸二次规划.在线性规划情形时,原始空间和对偶空间中的尺度Newton方向是正交的,而在二次规划情形时这是不成立的.本文将处理这个问题并且证明多项式复杂性,并且得到复杂性的上界为O(n√log n log (n/ε)).     

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.     

An eigenvalue decomposition based branch-and-bound algorithm for nonconvex quadratic programming problems with convex quadratic constraints

In this paper, we propose a branch-and-bound algorithm for finding a global optimal solution for a nonconvex quadratic program with convex quadratic constraints (NQPCQC). We first reformulate NQPCQC by adding some nonconvex quadratic constraints induced by eigenvectors of negative eigenvalues associated with the nonconvex quadratic objective function to Shor’s semidefinite relaxation. Under the assumption of having a bounded feasible domain, these nonconvex quadratic constraints can be further relaxed into linear ones to form a special semidefinite programming relaxation. Then an efficient branch-and-bound algorithm branching along the eigendirections of negative eigenvalues is designed. The theoretic convergence property and the worst-case complexity of the proposed algorithm are proved. Numerical experiments are conducted on several types of quadratic programs to show the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Exact Solutions of Some Nonconvex Quadratic Optimization Problems via SDP and SOCP Relaxations

We show that SDP (semidefinite programming) and SOCP (second order cone programming) relaxations provide exact optimal solutions for a class of nonconvex quadratic optimization problems. It is a generalization of the results by S. Zhang for a subclass of quadratic maximization problems that have nonnegative off-diagonal coefficient matrices of quadratic objective functions and diagonal coefficient matrices of quadratic constraint functions. A new SOCP relaxation is proposed for the class of nonconvex quadratic optimization problems by extracting valid quadratic inequalities for positive semidefinite cones. Its effectiveness to obtain optimal values is shown to be the same as the SDP relaxation theoretically. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate that the SOCP relaxation is much more efficient than the SDP relaxation.     

求解中大规模复杂凸二次整数规划问题的新型分枝定界算法

针对现有分枝定界算法在求解高维复杂二次整数规划问题时所存在的诸多不足，本文通过充分挖掘二次整数规划问题的结构特性来设计选择分枝变量与分枝方向的新方法，并将HNF算法与原问题松弛问题的求解相结合来寻求较好的初始整数可行解，由此导出可用于有效求解中大规模复杂二次整数规划问题的改进型分枝定界算法．数值试验结果表明所给算法大大改进了已有相关的分枝定界算法，并具有较好的稳定性与广泛的适用性．     

A BRANCH-AND-PRICE ALGORITHM FOR SOLVING THE CUTTING STRIPS PROBLEM

After giving a suitable model for the cutting strips problem, we present a branch-and-price algorithm for it by combining the column generation technique and the branch-and-hound method with LP relaxations. Some theoretical issues and implementation details about the algorithm are discussed, including the solution of the pricing subproblem, the quality of LP relaxations, the branching scheme as well as the column management. Finally, preliminary computarional experience is reported.