Optimization over structured subsets of positive semidefinite matrices via column generation

We develop algorithms to construct inner approximations of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices via linear programming and second order cone programming. Starting with an initial linear algebraic approximation suggested recently by Ahmadi and Majumdar, we describe an iterative process through which our approximation is improved at every step. This is done using ideas from column generation in large-scale linear programming. We then apply these techniques to approximate the sum of squares cone in a nonconvex polynomial optimization setting, and the copositive cone for a discrete optimization problem.     

Solving Standard Quadratic Optimization Problems via Linear, Semidefinite and Copositive Programming

The problem of minimizing a (non-convex) quadratic function over the simplex (the standard quadratic optimization problem) has an exact convex reformulation as a copositive programming problem. In this paper we show how to approximate the optimal solution by approximating the cone of copositive matrices via systems of linear inequalities, and, more refined, linear matrix inequalities (LMI's). In particular, we show that our approach leads to a polynomial-time approximation scheme for the standard quadratic optimzation problem. This is an improvement on the previous complexity result by Nesterov who showed that a 2/3-approximation is always possible. Numerical examples from various applications are provided to illustrate our approach.     

Copositivity Detection of Tensors: Theory and Algorithm

A symmetric tensor is called copositive if it generates a multivariate form taking nonnegative values over the nonnegative orthant. Copositive tensors have found important applications in polynomial optimization, tensor complementarity problems and vacuum stability of a general scalar potential. In this paper, we consider copositivity detection of tensors from both theoretical and computational points of view. After giving several necessary conditions for copositive tensors, we propose several new criteria for copositive tensors based on the representation of the multivariate form in barycentric coordinates with respect to the standard simplex and simplicial partitions. It is verified that, as the partition gets finer and finer, the concerned conditions eventually capture all strictly copositive tensors. Based on the obtained theoretical results with the help of simplicial partitions, we propose a numerical method to judge whether a tensor is copositive or not. The preliminary numerical results confirm our theoretical findings.     

Copositive programming motivated bounds on the stability and the chromatic numbers

The Lovász theta number of a graph G can be viewed as a semidefinite programming relaxation of the stability number of G. It has recently been shown that a copositive strengthening of this semidefinite program in fact equals the stability number of G. We introduce a related strengthening of the Lovász theta number toward the chromatic number of G, which is shown to be equal to the fractional chromatic number of G. Solving copositive programs is NP-hard. This motivates the study of tractable approximations of the copositive cone. We investigate the Parrilo hierarchy to approximate this cone and provide computational simplifications for the approximation of the chromatic number of vertex transitive graphs. We provide some computational results indicating that the Lovász theta number can be strengthened significantly toward the fractional chromatic number of G on some Hamming graphs. Partial support by the EU project Algorithmic Discrete Optimization (ADONET), MRTN-CT-2003-504438, is gratefully acknowledged.     

Tensor eigenvalue complementarity problems

This paper studies tensor eigenvalue complementarity problems. Basic properties of standard and complementarity tensor eigenvalues are discussed. We formulate tensor eigenvalue complementarity problems as constrained polynomial optimization. When one tensor is strictly copositive, the complementarity eigenvalues can be computed by solving polynomial optimization with normalization by strict copositivity. When no tensor is strictly copositive, we formulate the tensor eigenvalue complementarity problem equivalently as polynomial optimization by a randomization process. The complementarity eigenvalues can be computed sequentially. The formulated polynomial optimization can be solved by Lasserre’s hierarchy of semidefinite relaxations. We show that it has finite convergence for generic tensors. Numerical experiments are presented to show the efficiency of proposed methods.     

Completely positive reformulations for polynomial optimization

Polynomial optimization encompasses a very rich class of problems in which both the objective and constraints can be written in terms of polynomials on the decision variables. There is a well established body of research on quadratic polynomial optimization problems based on reformulations of the original problem as a conic program over the cone of completely positive matrices, or its conic dual, the cone of copositive matrices. As a result of this reformulation approach, novel solution schemes for quadratic polynomial optimization problems have been designed by drawing on conic programming tools, and the extensively studied cones of completely positive and of copositive matrices. In particular, this approach has been applied to solve key combinatorial optimization problems. Along this line of research, we consider polynomial optimization problems that are not necessarily quadratic. For this purpose, we use a natural extension of the cone of completely positive matrices; namely, the cone of completely positive tensors. We provide a general characterization of the class of polynomial optimization problems that can be formulated as a conic program over the cone of completely positive tensors. As a consequence of this characterization, it follows that recent related results for quadratic problems can be further strengthened and generalized to higher order polynomial optimization problems. Also, we show that the conditions underlying the characterization are conceptually the same, regardless of the degree of the polynomials defining the problem. To illustrate our results, we discuss in further detail special and relevant instances of polynomial optimization problems.     

Quadratic factorization heuristics for copositive programming

Copositive optimization problems are particular conic programs: optimize linear forms over the copositive cone subject to linear constraints. Every quadratic program with linear constraints can be formulated as a copositive program, even if some of the variables are binary. So this is an NP-hard problem class. While most methods try to approximate the copositive cone from within, we propose a method which approximates this cone from outside. This is achieved by passing to the dual problem, where the feasible set is an affine subspace intersected with the cone of completely positive matrices, and this cone is approximated from within. We consider feasible descent directions in the completely positive cone, and regularized strictly convex subproblems. In essence, we replace the intractable completely positive cone with a nonnegative cone, at the cost of a series of nonconvex quadratic subproblems. Proper adjustment of the regularization parameter results in short steps for the nonconvex quadratic programs. This suggests to approximate their solution by standard linearization techniques. Preliminary numerical results on three different classes of test problems are quite promising.     

半线性椭圆问题Petrov-Galerkin逼近及亏量迭代

本文考虑了二阶半线性椭圆问题的Petrov-Galerkin逼近格式,用双二次多项式空间作为形函数空间,用双线性多项式空间作为试探函数空间,证明了此逼近格式与标准的二次有限元逼近格式有同样的收敛阶.并且根据插值算子的逼近性质,进一步证明了半线性有限元解的亏量迭代序列收敛到Petrov-Galerkin解.     

THE DEFECT ITERATION OF THE FINITE ELEMENT FOR ELLIPTIC BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEMS AND PETROV-GALERKIN APPROXIMATION

1.IntroductionFranketc.of.[l]establishedtheiterateddefectcorrectionschemeforfiniteelemelltofellipticboundaryproblems.FOrlinearellipticboundaryvalueproblem[2--5]havediscllssedtheefficiencyoftheschemebyusillgsuperconvergenceandasymptoticexpansion"lidertheco…     

A simple but NP-hard problem of mixed-discrete programming and its solution by approximate algorithms

A NP-hard problem (P) of mixed-discrete linear programming is considered which consists in the minimization of a linear objective function subject to a special non-connected subset of an unbounded polymatroid. For this problem we describe three polynomial approximate algorithms including a greedy algorithm and a fully polynomial approximation scheme solving a special subproblem of (P).     

High-order copositive tensors and its applications

With the coming of the big data era, high-order high-dimensional structured tensors received much attentions of researchers" in recent years, and now they are developed into a new research branch in mathematics named multilinear algebra. As a special kind of structured tensor, the copositive tensor receives a special concern due to its wide applications in vacuum stability of a general scalar potential, polynomial optimization, tensor complementarity problem and tensor eigenvalue complementarity problem. In this review, we will give a simple survey on recent advances of high-order copositive tensors and its applications. Some potential research directions in the future are also listed in the paper.     

The similarity between the best approximation and the best copositive approximation

In this paper the author studies the copositive approximation in C(?) by elements of finite dimensional Chebyshev subspaces in the general case when ? is any totally ordered compact space. He studies the similarity between me behavior of the ordinary best approximation and the behavior pf the copositive best approximation. At the end of this paper, the author isolates many cases at which the two behaviors are the same.     

General characterization of best approximation and its application to uniform approximation with restricted ranges

Let R be a normed linear space, K be an arbitrary convex subset of an n-dimensional subspace Φ _n ⊂R. This paper first gives a general charactaerization for a best approximation from K in form of “zero in the convex hull”. Applying it to the uniform approximation by generalized polynomials with restricted ranges, we get further an alternation characterization. Our results ocntains the special cases of interpolatory approximation, positive approximation, copositive approximation, and the classical characterizations in forms of convex hull and alternation in approximation without restriction.     

A fully polynomial bicriteria approximation scheme for the constrained spanning tree problem

We propose a fully polynomial bicriteria approximation scheme for the constrained spanning tree problem. First, an exact pseudo-polynomial algorithm is developed based on a two-variable extension of the well-known matrix-tree theorem. The scaling and approximate binary search techniques are then utilized to yield a fully polynomial approximation scheme.     

代数数极小多项式的近似重构

给出了代数数极小多项式近似重构的误差控制条件,进而基于同步整数关系探测算法SIRD,得到一个从代数数近似值重构其准确极小多项式的完备的新算法,从而将“采用近似计算获得准确值”这一思想的适用范围从有理数扩展到代数数.     

单隐层神经网络与最佳多项式逼近

研究单隐层神经网络逼近问题．以最佳多项式逼近为度量,用构造性方法估计单隐层神经网络逼近连续函数的速度．所获结果表明:对定义在紧集上的任何连续函数,均可以构造一个单隐层神经网络逼近该函数,并且其逼近速度不超过该函数的最佳多项式逼近的二倍．     

The estimate for approximation error of spherical neural networks

Compared with planar hyperplane, fitting data on the sphere has been an important and an active issue in geoscience, metrology, brain imaging, and so on. In this paper, with the help of the Jackson‐type theorem of polynomial approximation on the sphere, we construct spherical feed‐forward neural networks to approximate the continuous function defined on the sphere. As a metric, the modulus of smoothness of spherical function is used to measure the error of the approximation, and a Jackson‐type theorem on the approximation is established. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A copositive approach for two-stage adjustable robust optimization with uncertain right-hand sides

We study two-stage adjustable robust linear programming in which the right-hand sides are uncertain and belong to a convex, compact uncertainty set. This problem is NP-hard, and the affine policy is a popular, tractable approximation. We prove that under standard and simple conditions, the two-stage problem can be reformulated as a copositive optimization problem, which in turn leads to a class of tractable, semidefinite-based approximations that are at least as strong as the affine policy. We investigate several examples from the literature demonstrating that our tractable approximations significantly improve the affine policy. In particular, our approach solves exactly in polynomial time a class of instances of increasing size for which the affine policy admits an arbitrarily large gap.     

Hybrid rounding techniques for knapsack problems

We address the classical knapsack problem and a variant in which an upper bound is imposed on the number of items that can be selected. We show that appropriate combinations of rounding techniques yield novel and more powerful ways of rounding. Moreover, we present a linear-storage polynomial time approximation scheme (PTAS) and a fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) that compute an approximate solution, of any fixed accuracy, in linear time. These linear complexity bounds give a substantial improvement of the best previously known polynomial bounds [A. Caprara, et al., Approximation algorithms for knapsack problems with cardinality constraints, European J. Oper. Res. 123 (2000) 333-345].     

On copositive approximation in some classical spaces of sequences

In this paper the author writes a simple characterization for the best copositive approximation in c; the space of convergent sequences, by elements of finite dimensional Chebyshev subspaces, and shows that it is unique.