Global Optimization Method for Solving Mathematical Programs with Linear Complementarity Constraints

We propose a method for finding a global optimal solution of programs with linear complementarity constraints. This problem arises for instance in bilevel programming. The main idea of the method is to generate a sequence of points either ending at a global optimal solution within a finite number of iterations or converging to a global optimal solution. The construction of such sequence is based on branch-and-bound techniques, which have been used successfully in global optimization. Results on a numerical test of the algorithm are reported.The main part of this article was written during the first authors stay as Visiting Professor at the Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan. The second and the third authors were supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research C(2) 13650061 of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and\break Technology of Japan.The authors thank P. B. Hermanns, Department of Mathematics, University of Trier, for carrying out the numerical test reported in Section 5. The authors also thank the referees and the Associate Editor for comments and suggestions which helped improving the first version of this article.