Exact penalties for variational inequalities with applications to nonlinear complementarity problems

In this paper, we present a new reformulation of the KKT system associated to a variational inequality as a semismooth equation. The reformulation is derived from the concept of differentiable exact penalties for nonlinear programming. The best theoretical results are presented for nonlinear complementarity problems, where simple, verifiable, conditions ensure that the penalty is exact. We close the paper with some preliminary computational tests on the use of a semismooth Newton method to solve the equation derived from the new reformulation. We also compare its performance with the Newton method applied to classical reformulations based on the Fischer-Burmeister function and on the minimum. The new reformulation combines the best features of the classical ones, being as easy to solve as the reformulation that uses the Fischer-Burmeister function while requiring as few Newton steps as the one that is based on the minimum.     

Modified Newton methods for solving a semismooth reformulation of monotone complementarity problems

In this paper, we propose a Newton-type method for solving a semismooth reformulation of monotone complementarity problems. In this method, a direction-finding subproblem, which is a system of linear equations, is uniquely solvable at each iteration. Moreover, the obtained search direction always affords a direction of sufficient decrease for the merit function defined as the squared residual for the semismooth equation equivalent to the complementarity problem. We show that the algorithm is globally convergent under some mild assumptions. Next, by slightly modifying the direction-finding problem, we propose another Newton-type method, which may be considered a restricted version of the first algorithm. We show that this algorithm has a superlinear, or possibly quadratic, rate of convergence under suitable assumptions. Finally, some numerical results are presented. Supported by Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists. Supported in part by the Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.     

Semismooth Newton Schwarz iterative methods for the linear complementarity problem

Semismooth Newton method is an effective method for solving a nonsmooth equation, which arises from a reformulation of the complementarity problem. Under appropriate conditions, we verify the monotone convergence of the method. We also present semismooth Newton Schwarz iterative methods for the nonsmooth equation. Under suitable conditions, the methods exhibit monotone and superlinear convergence properties.     

Globally convergent Jacobian smoothing inexact Newton methods for NCP

A new smoothing algorithm for the solution of nonlinear complementarity problems (NCP) is introduced in this paper. It is based on semismooth equation reformulation of NCP by Fischer–Burmeister function and its related smooth approximation. In each iteration the corresponding linear system is solved only approximately. Since inexact directions are not necessarily descent, a nonmonotone technique is used for globalization procedure. Numerical results are also presented. Research supported by Ministry of Science, Republic of Serbia, grant No. 144006.     

Semismooth Newton method for the lifted reformulation of mathematical programs with?complementarity constraints

We consider a reformulation of mathematical programs with complementarity constraints, where by introducing an artificial variable the constraints are converted into equalities which are once but not twice differentiable. We show that the Lagrange optimality system of such a reformulation is semismooth and BD-regular at the solution under reasonable assumptions. Thus, fast local convergence can be obtained by applying the semismooth Newton method. Moreover, it turns out that the squared residual of the Lagrange system is continuously differentiable (even though the system itself is not), which opens the way for a natural globalization of the local algorithm. Preliminary numerical results are also reported.     

线性不等式约束的广义非线性互补问题的仿射内点信赖域方法

提供了一种新的非单调内点回代线搜索技术的仿射内点信赖域方法解线性不等式约束的广义非线性互补问题(GCP).基于广义互补问题构成的半光滑方程组的广义Jacobian矩阵,算法使用l_2范数作为半光滑方程组的势函数,形成的信赖域子问题为一个带椭球约束的线性化的二次模型.利用广义牛顿方程计算试探迭代步,通过内点映射回代技术确保迭代点是严格内点,保证了算法的整体收敛性.在合理的条件下,证明了信赖域算法在接近最优点时可转化为广义拟牛顿步,进而具有局部超线性收敛速率.非单调技术将克服高度非线性情况加速收敛进展.最后,数值结果表明了算法的有效性.     

A Globally Convergent Sequential Quadratic Programming Algorithm for Mathematical Programs with Linear Complementarity Constraints

This paper presents a sequential quadratic programming algorithm for computing a stationary point of a mathematical program with linear complementarity constraints. The algorithm is based on a reformulation of the complementarity condition as a system of semismooth equations by means of Fischer-Burmeister functional, combined with a classical penalty function method for solving constrained optimization problems. Global convergence of the algorithm is established under appropriate assumptions. Some preliminary computational results are reported.     

A Smoothing Newton Method for General Nonlinear Complementarity Problems

Smoothing Newton methods for nonlinear complementarity problems NCP(F) often require F to be at least a P ₀-function in order to guarantee that the underlying Newton equation is solvable. Based on a special equation reformulation of NCP(F), we propose a new smoothing Newton method for general nonlinear complementarity problems. The introduction of Kanzow and Pieper's gradient step makes our algorithm to be globally convergent. Under certain conditions, our method achieves fast local convergence rate. Extensive numerical results are also reported for all complementarity problems in MCPLIB and GAMSLIB libraries with all available starting points.     

有界约束半光滑方程组的非单调投影信赖域方法

投影信赖域策略结合非单调线搜索算法解有界约束非线性半光滑方程组.基于简单有界约束的非线性优化问题构建信赖域子问题,半光滑类牛顿步在可行域投影得到投影牛顿的试探步,获得新的搜索方向,结合非单调线搜索技术得到回代步,获得新的步长.在合理的条件下,证明算法不仅具有整体收敛性且保持超线性收敛速率.引入非单调技术能克服高度非线性的病态问题,加速收敛性进程,得到超线性收敛速率.     

A New Class of Semismooth Newton-Type Methods for Nonlinear Complementarity Problems

We introduce a new, one-parametric class of NCP-functions. This class subsumes the Fischer function and reduces to the minimum function in a limiting case of the parameter. This new class of NCP-functions is used in order to reformulate the nonlinear complementarity problem as a nonsmooth system of equations. We present a detailed investigation of the properties of the equation operator, of the corresponding merit function as well as of a suitable semismooth Newton-type method. Finally, numerical results are presented for this method being applied to a number of test problems.     

线性不等式约束的广义非线性互补问题的仿射内点信赖域方法

提供了一种新的非单调内点回代线搜索技术的仿射内点信赖域方法解线性不等式约束的广义非线性互补问题(GCP).基于广义互补问题构成的半光滑方程组的广义Jacobian矩阵,算法使用l2范数作为半光滑方程组的势函数,形成的信赖域子问题为一个带椭球约束的线性化的二次模型.利用广义牛顿方程计算试探迭代步,通过内点映射回代技术确保迭代点是严格内点,保证了算法的整体收敛性.在合理的条件下,证明了信赖域算法在接近最优点时可转化为广义拟牛顿步,进而具有局部超线性收敛速率.非单调技术将克服高度非线性情况加速收敛进展.最后,数值结果表明了算法的有效性.     

A Globally Convergent Smoothing Newton Method for Nonsmooth Equations and Its Application to Complementarity Problems

The complementarity problem is theoretically and practically useful, and has been used to study and formulate various equilibrium problems arising in economics and engineerings. Recently, for solving complementarity problems, various equivalent equation formulations have been proposed and seem attractive. However, such formulations have the difficulty that the equation arising from complementarity problems is typically nonsmooth. In this paper, we propose a new smoothing Newton method for nonsmooth equations. In our method, we use an approximation function that is smooth when the approximation parameter is positive, and which coincides with original nonsmooth function when the parameter takes zero. Then, we apply Newton's method for the equation that is equivalent to the original nonsmooth equation and that includes an approximation parameter as a variable. The proposed method has the advantage that it has only to deal with a smooth function at any iteration and that it never requires a procedure to decrease an approximation parameter. We show that the sequence generated by the proposed method is globally convergent to a solution, and that, under semismooth assumption, its convergence rate is superlinear. Moreover, we apply the method to nonlinear complementarity problems. Numerical results show that the proposed method is practically efficient.     

Boundedness and Regularity Properties of Semismooth Reformulations of Variational Inequalities

The Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) system of the variational inequality problem over a set defined by inequality and equality constraints can be reformulated as a system of semismooth equations via an nonlinear complementarity problem (NCP) function. We give a sufficient condition for boundedness of the level sets of the norm function of this system of semismooth equations when the NCP function is metrically equivalent to the minimum function; and a sufficient and necessary condition when the NCP function is the minimum function. Nonsingularity properties identified by Facchinei, Fischer and Kanzow, 1998, SIAM J. Optim. 8, 850–869, for the semismooth reformulation of the variational inequality problem via the Fischer-Burmeister function, which is an irrational regular pseudo-smooth NCP function, hold for the reformulation based on other regular pseudo-smooth NCP functions. We propose a new regular pseudo-smooth NCP function, which is piecewise linear-rational and metrically equivalent to the minimum NCP function. When it is used to the generalized Newton method for solving the variational inequality problem, an auxiliary step can be added to each iteration to reduce the value of the merit function by adjusting the Lagrangian multipliers only. This work is supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong This paper is dedicated to Alex Rubinov on the occasion of his 65th Birthday     

Complementarity Functions and Numerical Experiments on Some Smoothing Newton Methods for Second-Order-Cone Complementarity Problems

Two results on the second-order-cone complementarity problem are presented. We show that the squared smoothing function is strongly semismooth. Under monotonicity and strict feasibility we provide a new proof, based on a penalized natural complementarity function, for the solution set of the second-order-cone complementarity problem being bounded. Numerical results of squared smoothing Newton algorithms are reported.     

A Gauss–Newton Approach for Solving Constrained Optimization Problems Using Differentiable Exact Penalties

We propose a Gauss–Newton-type method for nonlinear constrained optimization using the exact penalty introduced recently by André and Silva for variational inequalities. We extend their penalty function to both equality and inequality constraints using a weak regularity assumption, and as a result, we obtain a continuously differentiable exact penalty function and a new reformulation of the KKT conditions as a system of equations. Such reformulation allows the use of a semismooth Newton method, so that local superlinear convergence rate can be proved under an assumption weaker than the usual strong second-order sufficient condition and without requiring strict complementarity. Besides, we note that the exact penalty function can be used to globalize the method. We conclude with some numerical experiments using the collection of test problems CUTE.     

Globally Convergent Broyden-Like Methods for Semismooth Equations and Applications to VIP, NCP and MCP

In this paper, we propose a general smoothing Broyden-like quasi-Newton method for solving a class of nonsmooth equations. Under appropriate conditions, the proposed method converges to a solution of the equation globally and superlinearly. In particular, the proposed method provides the possibility of developing a quasi-Newton method that enjoys superlinear convergence even if strict complementarity fails to hold. We pay particular attention to semismooth equations arising from nonlinear complementarity problems, mixed complementarity problems and variational inequality problems. We show that under certain conditions, the related methods based on the perturbed Fischer–Burmeister function, Chen–Harker–Kanzow–Smale smoothing function and the Gabriel–Moré class of smoothing functions converge globally and superlinearly.     

Smoothing Trust Region Methods for Nonlinear Complementarity Problems with P 0-Functions

By using the Fischer–Burmeister function to reformulate the nonlinear complementarity problem (NCP) as a system of semismooth equations and using Kanzow’s smooth approximation function to construct the smooth operator, we propose a smoothing trust region algorithm for solving the NCP with P ₀ functions. We prove that every accumulation point of the sequence generated by the algorithm is a solution of the NCP. Under a nonsingularity condition, local Q-superlinear/Q-quadratic convergence of the algorithm is established without the strict complementarity condition. This work was partially supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 10171030).     

非线性互补问题的SQP方法

In this paper, the nonlinear complementarity problem is transformed into the least squares problem with nonnegative constraints ,and a SQP algorithm for this reformulation based on a damped Gauss-Newton type method is presented. It is shown that the algorithm is globally and locally superlinearly (quadratically) convergent without the assumption of monotonicity.     

Smoothing inexact Newton methods for NCP with various nonmonotone techniques

Various iterative methods for solving nonlinear complementarity problems (NCP) are developed in recent years. In this paper we propose Jacobian smoothing inexact Newton methods for NCP with different nonmonotone strategies. The methods are based on semismooth equation reformulation of NCP by Fischer-Burmeister function. Nonmonotone line-search techniques are used for globalization procedure. Numerical performance of algorithms are compared. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A nonsmooth inexact Newton method for the solution of large-scale nonlinear complementarity problems

A new algorithm for the solation of large-scale nonlinear complementarity problems is introduced. The algorithm is based on a nonsmooth equation reformulation of the complementarity problem and on an inexact Levenberg-Marquardt-type algorithm for its solution. Under mild assumptions, and requiring only the approximate solution of a linear system at each iteration, the algorithm is shown to be both globally and superlinearly convergent, even on degenerate problems. Numerical results for problems with up to 10 000 variables are presented. Partially supported by Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Roma, Italy.