一类具有连续变量的全局最优化问题的凸化方法

本文研究了一类非凸最优化问题的凸化方法与最优性条件的问题.利用构造含有参数的函数变换方法,将具有次正定性质的目标函数凸化,并获得了这一类非凸优化问题全局最优解的充要条件,推广了凸化方法在求解全局最优化问题方面的应用.     

一类反凸规划的全局新算法

§1.引言 到目前为止,大多数非线性规划的有效算法都是寻求它的局部最优解,由于很难判断一个局部解是否就是一个全局解,全局规划的研究是个困难问题,反凸规划由于其可行域的非凸性甚至非连通性,目前有效算法更少。 [1]已经指出很容易把D.C.规划(即目标函数和约束函数均为二个凸函数之差)转化成为一个目标函数为线性的反凸规划:     

整数规划问题的滤子填充函数算法

全局优化是最优化的一个分支,非线性整数规划问题的全局优化在各个方面都有广泛的应用.填充函数是解决全局优化问题的方法之一,它可以帮助目标函数跳出当前的局部极小点找到下一个更好的极小点.滤子方法的引入可以使得目标函数和填充函数共同下降,省却了以往算法要设置两个循环的麻烦,提高了算法的效率.本文提出了一个求解无约束非线性整数规划问题的无参数填充函数,并分析了其性质.同时引进了滤子方法,在此基础上设计了整数规划的无参数滤子填充函数算法.数值实验证明该算法是有效的.     

一类新的非单调信赖域算法

提出了一类带线性搜索的非单调信赖域算法.算法将非单调Armijo线性搜索技术与信赖域方法相结合,使算法不需重解子问题.而且由于采用了MBFGS校正公式,使矩阵Bk能较好地逼近目标函数的Hesse矩阵并保持正定传递.在较弱的条件下,证明了算法的全局收敛性.数值结果表明算法是有效的.     

Celis-Dennis-Tapia子问题的KKT点

Celis-Dennis-Tapia (CDT) 问题的提出是为了克服信赖域方法求解等式约束优化问题时产生的约束不相容性. 对CDT子问题做了深入研究: 首先,当全局解处的Lagrange乘子不唯一时,证明了必存在满足Hesse矩阵半正定的KKT点. 其次,当全局解处的Hesse矩阵有1个负特征值时, 给出了二次最优性条件,该充要条件没有间隙(gap).进一步地,证明了所有满足Hesse矩阵有1个负特征值的可行的KKT点都是CDT子问题的局部最优解.     

非线性半定规划若干进展

讨论非线性半定规划的四个专题, 包括半正定矩阵锥的变分分析、非凸半定规划问题的最优性条件、非凸半定规划问题的扰动分析和非凸半定规划问题的增广Lagrange方法.     

非线性半定规划若干进展

讨论非线性半定规划的四个专题,包括半正定矩阵锥的变分分析、非凸半定规划问题的最优性条件、非凸半定规划问题的扰动分析和非凸半定规划问题的增广Lagrange方法．     

一维弹性波方程双参数反演的省去Green函数法

为了提高一维弹性波方程反演的精度,推出了严格省去Green函数的反演方程,并通过选取适当的稳定泛函、合理地运用正则化方法,获得了即可以同时反演介质的密度和弹性参数,也可以同时反演出介质密度和波速的新方法,这可为地震勘探提供较多的岩性参数.经过一系列的数值模拟计算,验证了该方法提高了反演的精度.     

一族精确罚函数的存在性及控制参数的下界

本文讨论了非线性等式与不等式约束的优化问题的一族比较广的精确罚函数的存在性,不需凸性及任何约束规格的假设,证明了当罚参数充分大后,惩罚问题的(严格)局部极小点是原问题的(严格)局部极小点,惩罚问题的全局极小点是原问题的最优解,并给出控制参数的一个下界。     

一维波动方程联合反演的分步正则化法

本文只用一个纵波信息,对一维波动方程的速度和震源函数进行联合反演.并考虑到波动方程的反问题是一不适定问题,对震源函数和波速分别用正则化法分步迭代求解,大大减少了反问题的计算工作量,改善了该反问题的计算稳定性.为计算实际一维地震数据提供了一种方法.文中给出了只用一个反问题补充条件同时进行多参数反演的详细公式,并对相应的数值算例进行了分析和比较.     

Criteria for Unconstrained Global Optimization

We develop criteria for the existence and uniqueness of the global minima of a continuous bounded function on a noncompact set. Special attention is given to the problem of parameter estimation via minimization of the sum of squares in nonlinear regression and maximum likelihood. Definitions of local convexity and unimodality are given using the level set. A fundamental theorem of nonconvex optimization is formulated: If a function approaches the minimal limiting value at the boundary of the optimization domain from below and its Hessian matrix is positive definite at the point where the gradient vanishes, then the function has a unique minimum. It is shown that the local convexity level of the sum of squares is equal to the minimal squared radius of the regression curvature. A new multimodal function is introduced, the decomposition function, which can be represented as the composition of a convex function and a nonlinear function from the argument space to a space of larger dimension. Several general global criteria based on majorization and minorization functions are formulated.     

A Global Optimization Method,QBB, for Twice-Differentiable Nonconvex Optimization Problem

A global optimization method, QBB, for twice-differentiable NLPs (Non-Linear Programming) is developed to operate within a branch-and-bound framework and require the construction of a relaxed convex problem on the basis of the quadratic lower bounding functions for the generic nonconvex structures. Within an exhaustive simplicial division of the constrained region, the rigorous quadratic underestimation function is constructed for the generic nonconvex function structure by virtue of the maximal eigenvalue analysis of the interval Hessian matrix. Each valid lower bound of the NLP problem with the division progress is computed by the convex programming of the relaxed optimization problem obtained by preserving the convex or linear terms, replacing the concave term with linear convex envelope, underestimating the special terms and the generic terms by using their customized tight convex lower bounding functions or the valid quadratic lower bounding functions, respectively. The standard convergence properties of the QBB algorithm for nonconvex global optimization problems are guaranteed. The preliminary computation studies are presented in order to evaluate the algorithmic efficiency of the proposed QBB approach.     

The Global Convergence of Self-Scaling BFGS Algorithm with Nonmonotone Line Search for Unconstrained Nonconvex Optimization Problems

The self-scaling quasi-Newton method solves an unconstrained optimization problem by scaling the Hessian approximation matrix before it is updated at each iteration to avoid the possible large eigenvalues in the Hessian approximation matrices of the objective function. It has been proved in the literature that this method has the global and superlinear convergence when the objective function is convex （or even uniformly convex）. We propose to solve unconstrained nonconvex optimization problems by a self-scaling BFGS algorithm with nonmonotone linear search. Nonmonotone line search has been recognized in numerical practices as a competitive approach for solving large-scale nonlinear problems. We consider two different nonmonotone line search forms and study the global convergence of these nonmonotone self-scale BFGS algorithms. We prove that, under some weaker condition than that in the literature, both forms of the self-scaling BFGS algorithm are globally convergent for unconstrained nonconvex optimization problems.     

A branch and bound algorithm for the global optimization of Hessian Lipschitz continuous functions

We present a branch and bound algorithm for the global optimization of a twice differentiable nonconvex objective function with a Lipschitz continuous Hessian over a compact, convex set. The algorithm is based on applying cubic regularisation techniques to the objective function within an overlapping branch and bound algorithm for convex constrained global optimization. Unlike other branch and bound algorithms, lower bounds are obtained via nonconvex underestimators of the function. For a numerical example, we apply the proposed branch and bound algorithm to radial basis function approximations.     

Minimum principle sufficiency

We characterize the property of obtaining a solution to a convex program by minimizing over the feasible region a linearization of the objective function at any of its solution points (Minimum Principle Sufficiency). For the case of a monotone linear complementarity problem this MPS property is completely equivalent to the existence of a nondegenerate solution to the problem. For the case of a convex quadratic program, the MPS property is equivalent to the span of the Hessian of the objective function being contained in the normal cone to the feasible region at any solution point, plus the cone generated by the gradient of the objective function at any solution point. This in turn is equivalent to the quadratic program having a weak sharp minimum. An important application of the MPS property is that minimizing on the feasible region a linearization of the objective function at a point in a neighborhood of a solution point gives an exact solution of the convex program. This leads to finite termination of convergent algorithms that periodically minimize such a linearization.This material is based on research supported by National Science Foundation Grants DCR-8521228 and CCR-8723091, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grants AFOSR 86-0172 and AFOSR and AFOSR 89-0410.     

A parallel algorithm for partially separable non-convex global minimization: Linear constraints

The global minimization of large-scale partially separable non-convex problems over a bounded polyhedral set using a parallel branch and bound approach is considered. The objective function consists of a separable concave part, an unseparated convex part, and a strictly linear part, which are all coupled by the linear constraints. These large-scale problems are characterized by having the number of linear variables much greater than the number of nonlinear variables. An important special class of problems which can be reduced to this form are the synomial global minimization problems. Such problems often arise in engineering design, and previous computational methods for such problems have been limited to the convex posynomial case. In the current work, a convex underestimating function to the objective function is easily constructed and minimized over the feasible domain to get both upper and lower bounds on the global minimum function value. At each minor iteration of the algorithm, the feasible domain is divided into subregions and convex underestimating problems over each subregion are solved in parallel. Branch and bound techniques can then be used to eliminate parts of the feasible domain from consideration and improve the upper and lower bounds. It is shown that the algorithm guarantees that a solution is obtained to within any specified tolerance in a finite number of steps. Computational results obtained on the four processor Cray 2, both sequentially and in parallel on all four processors, are also presented.     

Smooth Convex Approximation to the Maximum Eigenvalue Function

In this paper, we consider smooth convex approximations to the maximum eigenvalue function. To make it applicable to a wide class of applications, the study is conducted on the composite function of the maximum eigenvalue function and a linear operator mapping ^m to , the space of n-by-n symmetric matrices. The composite function in turn is the natural objective function of minimizing the maximum eigenvalue function over an affine space in . This leads to a sequence of smooth convex minimization problems governed by a smoothing parameter. As the parameter goes to zero, the original problem is recovered. We then develop a computable Hessian formula of the smooth convex functions, matrix representation of the Hessian, and study the regularity conditions which guarantee the nonsingularity of the Hessian matrices. The study on the well-posedness of the smooth convex function leads to a regularization method which is globally convergent.     

On Extensions of the Frank-Wolfe Theorems

In this paper we consider optimization problems defined by a quadratic objective function and a finite number of quadratic inequality constraints. Given that the objective function is bounded over the feasible set, we present a comprehensive study of the conditions under which the optimal solution set is nonempty, thus extending the so-called Frank-Wolfe theorem. In particular, we first prove a general continuity result for the solution set defined by a system of convex quadratic inequalities. This result implies immediately that the optimal solution set of the aforementioned problem is nonempty when all the quadratic functions involved are convex. In the absence of the convexity of the objective function, we give examples showing that the optimal solution set may be empty either when there are two or more convex quadratic constraints, or when the Hessian of the objective function has two or more negative eigenvalues. In the case when there exists only one convex quadratic inequality constraint (together with other linear constraints), or when the constraint functions are all convex quadratic and the objective function is quasi-convex (thus allowing one negative eigenvalue in its Hessian matrix), we prove that the optimal solution set is nonempty.     

Nonconvex Piecewise-Quadratic Underestimation for Global Minimization

Motivated by the fact that important real-life problems, such as the protein docking problem, can be accurately modeled by minimizing a nonconvex piecewise-quadratic function, a nonconvex underestimator is constructed as the minimum of a finite number of strictly convex quadratic functions. The nonconvex underestimator is generated by minimizing a linear function on a reverse convex region and utilizes sample points from a given complex function to be minimized. The global solution of the piecewise-quadratic underestimator is known exactly and gives an approximation to the global minimum of the original function. Successive shrinking of the initial search region to which this procedure is applied leads to fairly accurate estimates, within 0.0060%, of the global minima of synthetic nonconvex functions for which the global minima are known. Furthermore, this process can approximate a nonconvex protein docking function global minimum within four-figure relative accuracy in six refinement steps. This is less than half the number of refinement steps required by previous models such as the convex kernel underestimator (Mangasarian et al., Computational Optimization and Applications, to appear) and produces higher accuracy here.     

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.