Random Block Coordinate Descent Methods for Linearly Constrained Optimization over Networks

In this paper we develop random block coordinate descent methods for minimizing large-scale linearly constrained convex problems over networks. Since coupled constraints appear in the problem, we devise an algorithm that updates in parallel at each iteration at least two random components of the solution, chosen according to a given probability distribution. Those computations can be performed in a distributed fashion according to the structure of the network. Complexity per iteration of the proposed methods is usually cheaper than that of the full gradient method when the number of nodes in the network is much larger than the number of updated components. On smooth convex problems, we prove that these methods exhibit a sublinear worst-case convergence rate in the expected value of the objective function. Moreover, this convergence rate depends linearly on the number of components to be updated. On smooth strongly convex problems we prove that our methods converge linearly. We also focus on how to choose the probabilities to make our randomized algorithms converge as fast as possible, which leads us to solving a sparse semidefinite program. We then describe several applications that fit in our framework, in particular the convex feasibility problem. Finally, numerical experiments illustrate the behaviour of our methods, showing in particular that updating more than two components in parallel accelerates the method.     

解凸可行问题的一个带中心技术的外推平行次梯度投影算法（英文）

In this paper,we present an extrapolated parallel subgradient projection method with the centering technique for the convex feasibility problem,the algorithm improves the convergence by reason of using centering techniques which reduce the oscillation of the corresponding sequence.To prove the convergence in a simply way,we transmit the parallel algorithm in the original space to a sequential one in a newly constructed product space.Thus,the convergence of the parallel algorithm is derived with the help of the sequential one under some suitable conditions.Numerical results show that the new algorithm has better convergence than the existing algorithms.     

凸可行问题的一种强收敛算法

无限维Hilbert空间中,解凸可行问题的平行投影算法通常是弱收敛的.本文对一般的平行投影算法进行改进,设计了一种解凸可行问题的具有强收敛性的新算法.该算法主要是在原有算法基础上引入了一个参数序列,在参数序列满足一定的控制条件下保证了算法的强收敛性.为了简单证明算法的强收敛性,我们构建了一个新的积空间,然后把原空间的这种改进平行投影算法转换为积空间中的交替投影算法.这样,改进的平行投影算法的强收敛性就可以通过交替投影算法的收敛性证明得到.     

Accelerated reflection projection algorithm and its application to the LMI problem

We discuss accelerated version of the alternating projection method which can be applied to solve the linear matrix inequality (LMI) problem. The alternating projection method is a well-known algorithm for the convex feasibility problem, and has many generalizations and extensions. Bauschke and Kruk proposed a reflection projection algorithm for computing a point in the intersection of an obtuse cone and a closed convex set. We carry on this research in two directions. First, we present an accelerated version of the reflection projection algorithm, and prove its weak convergence in a Hilbert space; second, we prove the finite termination of an algorithm which is based on the proposed algorithm and provide an explicit upper bound for the required number of iterations under certain assumptions. Numerical experiments for the LMI problem are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and merits of the proposed algorithms.     

Adaptive Projected Subgradient Method for Asymptotic Minimization of Sequence of Nonnegative Convex Functions

Abstract

This paper presents an algorithm, named adaptive projected subgradient method that can minimize asymptotically a certain sequence of nonnegative convex functions over a closed convex set in a real Hilbert space. The proposed algorithm is a natural extension of the Polyak's subgradient algorithm, for nonsmooth convex optimization problem with a fixed target value, to the case where the convex objective itself keeps changing in the whole process. The main theorem, showing the strong convergence of the algorithm as well as the asymptotic optimality of the sequence generated by the algorithm, can serve as a unified guiding principle of a wide range of set theoretic adaptive filtering schemes for nonstationary random processes. These include not only the existing adaptive filtering techniques; e.g., NLMS, Projected NLMS, Constrained NLMS, APA, and Adaptive parallel outer projection algorithm etc., but also new techniques; e.g., Adaptive parallel min-max projection algorithm, and their embedded constraint versions. Numerical examples show that the proposed techniques are well-suited for robust adaptive signal processing problems.     

Reduction of a Minimization Problem of a Separable Convex Function Under Linear Constraints to a Fixed Point Problem

The paper is devoted to studying a constrained nonlinear optimization problem of a special kind. The objective functional of the problem is a separable convex function whose minimum is sought for on a set of linear constraints in the form of equalities. It is proved that, for this type of optimization problems, the explicit form can be obtained of a projection operator based on a generalized projection matrix. The projection operator allows us to represent the initial problem as a fixed point problem. The explicit form of the fixed point problem makes it possible to run a process of simple iteration. We prove the linear convergence of the obtained iterative method and, under rather natural additional conditions, its quadratic convergence. It is shown that an important application of the developed method is the flow assignment in a network of an arbitrary topology with one pair of source and sink.     

在一个新步长规则下梯度投影算法的全局收敛性

考虑约束最优化问题：minx∈Ωf(x)其中:f:R^n→R是连续可微函数，Ω是一闭凸集。本文研究了解决此问题的梯度投影方法，在步长的选取时采用了一种新的策略，在较弱的条件下，证明了梯度投影响方法的全局收敛性。     

Convergence Theorem for Variational Inequality in Hilbert Spaces with Applications

In this paper, we study variational inequality over the set of the common fixed points of a countable family of quasi-nonexpansive mappings. To tackle this problem, we propose an algorithm and use it to prove a strong convergence theorem under suitable conditions. As applications, we study variational inequality over the solution set of different nonlinear or linear problems, like minimization problems, split feasibility problems, convexly pseudoinverse problems, convex linear inverse problems, etc.     

Modified basic projection methods for a class of equilibrium problems

Projection methods are a popular class of methods for solving equilibrium problems. In this paper, we propose approximate one projection methods for solving a class of equilibrium problems, where the cost bifunctions are paramonotone, the feasible sets are defined by a continuous convex function inequality and not necessarily differentiable in the Euclidean space \(\mathcal R^{s}\). At each main iteration step in our algorithms, the usual projections onto the feasible set are replaced by computing inexact subgradients and one projection onto the intersection of two halfspaces containing the solution set of the equilibrium problems. Then, by choosing suitable parameters, we prove convergence of the whole generated sequence to a solution of the problems, under only the assumptions of continuity and paramonotonicity of the bifunctions. Finally, we present some computational examples to illustrate the assumptions of the proposed algorithms.     

Local convergence analysis for partitioned quasi-Newton updates

Summary This paper considers local convergence properties of inexact partitioned quasi-Newton algorithms for the solution of certain non-linear equations and, in particular, the optimization of partially separable objective functions. Using the bounded deterioration principle, one obtains local and linear convergence, which impliesQ-superlinear convergence under the usual conditions on the quasi-Newton updates. For the optimization case, these conditions are shown to be satisfied by any sequence of updates within the convex Broyden class, even if some Hessians are singular at the minimizer. Finally, local andQ-superlinear convergence is established for an inexact partitioned variable metric method under mild assumptions on the initial Hessian approximations.Work supported by a research grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn and carried out at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Cambridge (United Kingdom)     

On variable-step relaxed projection algorithm for variational inequalities

Projection algorithms are practically useful for solving variational inequalities (VI). However some among them require the knowledge related to VI in advance, such as Lipschitz constant. Usually it is impossible in practice. This paper studies the variable-step basic projection algorithm and its relaxed version under weakly co-coercive condition. The algorithms discussed need not know constant/function associated with the co-coercivity or weak co-coercivity and the step-size is varied from one iteration to the next. Under certain conditions the convergence of the variable-step basic projection algorithm is established. For the practical consideration, we also give the relaxed version of this algorithm, in which the projection onto a closed convex set is replaced by another projection at each iteration and latter is easy to calculate. The convergence of relaxed scheme is also obtained under certain assumptions. Finally we apply these two algorithms to the Split Feasibility Problem (SFP).     

Analysis on Newton projection method for the split feasibility problem

In this paper, based on a merit function of the split feasibility problem (SFP), we present a Newton projection method for solving it and analyze the convergence properties of the method. The merit function is differentiable and convex. But its gradient is a linear composite function of the projection operator, so it is nonsmooth in general. We prove that the sequence of iterates converges globally to a solution of the SFP as long as the regularization parameter matrix in the algorithm is chosen properly. Especially, under some local assumptions which are necessary for the case where the projection operator is nonsmooth, we prove that the sequence of iterates generated by the algorithm superlinearly converges to a regular solution of the SFP. Finally, some numerical results are presented.     

About the Lipschitz property of the metric projection in the Hilbert space

We consider the metric projection operator from the real Hilbert space onto a strongly convex set. We prove that the restriction of this operator on the complement of some neighborhood of the strongly convex set is Lipschitz continuous with the Lipschitz constant strictly less than 1. This property characterizes the class of strongly convex sets and (to a certain degree) the Hilbert space. We apply the results obtained to the question concerning the rate of convergence for the gradient projection algorithm with differentiable convex function and strongly convex set.     

Convergence Analysis of Processes with Valiant Projection Operators in Hilbert Space

Convex feasibility problems require to find a point in the intersection of a finite family of convex sets. We propose to solve such problems by performing set-enlargements and applying a new kind of projection operators called valiant projectors. A valiant projector onto a convex set implements a special relaxation strategy, proposed by Goffin in 1971, that dictates the move toward the projection according to the distance from the set. Contrary to past realizations of this strategy, our valiant projection operator implements the strategy in a continuous fashion. We study properties of valiant projectors and prove convergence of our new valiant projections method. These results include as a special case and extend the 1985 automatic relaxation method of Censor.     

Relaxed inertial proximal Peaceman-Rachford splitting method for separable convex programming

The strictly contractive Peaceman-Rachford splitting method is one of effective methods for solving separable convex optimization problem, and the inertial proximal Peaceman-Rachford splitting method is one of its important variants. It is known that the convergence of the inertial proximal Peaceman-Rachford splitting method can be ensured if the relaxation factor in Lagrangian multiplier updates is underdetermined, which means that the steps for the Lagrangian multiplier updates are shrunk conservatively. Although small steps play an important role in ensuring convergence, they should be strongly avoided in practice. In this article, we propose a relaxed inertial proximal Peaceman-Rachford splitting method, which has a larger feasible set for the relaxation factor. Thus, our method provides the possibility to admit larger steps in the Lagrangian multiplier updates. We establish the global convergence of the proposed algorithm under the same conditions as the inertial proximal Peaceman-Rachford splitting method. Numerical experimental results on a sparse signal recovery problem in compressive sensing and a total variation based image denoising problem demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.     

Properties of the metric projection on weakly vial-convex sets and parametrization of set-valued mappings with weakly convex images

We continue studying the class of weakly convex sets (in the sense of Vial). For points in a sufficiently small neighborhood of a closed weakly convex subset in Hubert space, we prove that the metric projection on this set exists and is unique. In other words, we show that the closed weakly convex sets have a Chebyshev layer. We prove that the metric projection of a point on a weakly convex set satisfies the Lipschitz condition with respect to a point and the Hölder condition with exponent 1/2 with respect to a set. We develop a method for constructing a continuous parametrization of a set-valued mapping with weakly convex images. We obtain an explicit estimate for the modulus of continuity of the parametrizing function.     

A Projected Subgradient Algorithm for Bilevel Equilibrium Problems and Applications

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for solving a bilevel equilibrium problem in a real Hilbert space. In contrast to most other projection-type algorithms, which require to solve subproblems at each iteration, the subgradient method proposed in this paper requires only to calculate, at each iteration, two subgradients of convex functions and one projection onto a convex set. Hence, our algorithm has a low computational cost. We prove a strong convergence theorem for the proposed algorithm and apply it for solving the equilibrium problem over the fixed point set of a nonexpansive mapping. Some numerical experiments and comparisons are given to illustrate our results. Also, an application to Nash–Cournot equilibrium models of a semioligopolistic market is presented.     

Path-following gradient-based decomposition algorithms for separable convex optimization

A new decomposition optimization algorithm, called path-following gradient-based decomposition, is proposed to solve separable convex optimization problems. Unlike path-following Newton methods considered in the literature, this algorithm does not require any smoothness assumption on the objective function. This allows us to handle more general classes of problems arising in many real applications than in the path-following Newton methods. The new algorithm is a combination of three techniques, namely smoothing, Lagrangian decomposition and path-following gradient framework. The algorithm decomposes the original problem into smaller subproblems by using dual decomposition and smoothing via self-concordant barriers, updates the dual variables using a path-following gradient method and allows one to solve the subproblems in parallel. Moreover, compared to augmented Lagrangian approaches, our algorithmic parameters are updated automatically without any tuning strategy. We prove the global convergence of the new algorithm and analyze its convergence rate. Then, we modify the proposed algorithm by applying Nesterov’s accelerating scheme to get a new variant which has a better convergence rate than the first algorithm. Finally, we present preliminary numerical tests that confirm the theoretical development.     

On Generalizations of the Frank-Wolfe Theorem to Convex and Quasi-Convex Programmes

In this paper we are concerned with the problem of boundedness and the existence of optimal solutions to the constrained optimization problem. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for boundedness of either a faithfully convex or a quasi-convex polynomial function over the feasible set defined by a system of faithfully convex inequality constraints and/or quasi-convex polynomial inequalities, where the faithfully convex functions satisfy some mild assumption. The conditions are provided in the form of an algorithm, terminating after a finite number of iterations, the implementation of which requires the identification of implicit equality constraints in a homogeneous linear system. We prove that the optimal solution set of the considered problem is nonempty, this way extending the attainability result well known as the so-called Frank-Wolfe theorem. Finally we show that our extension of the Frank-Wolfe theorem immediately implies continuity of the solution set defined by the considered system of (quasi)convex inequalities.     

An iterative method for equilibrium problems and a finite family of relatively nonexpansive mappings in a Banach space

In this paper, we introduce a new iterative method for finding a common element of the set of fixed points of a finite family of relatively nonexpansive mappings and the set of solutions of an equilibrium problem in uniformly convex and uniformly smooth Banach spaces. Then we prove a strong convergence theorem by using the generalized projection.