23,112 research outputs found
Convexity in source separation: Models, geometry, and algorithms
Source separation or demixing is the process of extracting multiple
components entangled within a signal. Contemporary signal processing presents a
host of difficult source separation problems, from interference cancellation to
background subtraction, blind deconvolution, and even dictionary learning.
Despite the recent progress in each of these applications, advances in
high-throughput sensor technology place demixing algorithms under pressure to
accommodate extremely high-dimensional signals, separate an ever larger number
of sources, and cope with more sophisticated signal and mixing models. These
difficulties are exacerbated by the need for real-time action in automated
decision-making systems.
Recent advances in convex optimization provide a simple framework for
efficiently solving numerous difficult demixing problems. This article provides
an overview of the emerging field, explains the theory that governs the
underlying procedures, and surveys algorithms that solve them efficiently. We
aim to equip practitioners with a toolkit for constructing their own demixing
algorithms that work, as well as concrete intuition for why they work
Domain Decomposition for Stochastic Optimal Control
This work proposes a method for solving linear stochastic optimal control
(SOC) problems using sum of squares and semidefinite programming. Previous work
had used polynomial optimization to approximate the value function, requiring a
high polynomial degree to capture local phenomena. To improve the scalability
of the method to problems of interest, a domain decomposition scheme is
presented. By using local approximations, lower degree polynomials become
sufficient, and both local and global properties of the value function are
captured. The domain of the problem is split into a non-overlapping partition,
with added constraints ensuring continuity. The Alternating Direction
Method of Multipliers (ADMM) is used to optimize over each domain in parallel
and ensure convergence on the boundaries of the partitions. This results in
improved conditioning of the problem and allows for much larger and more
complex problems to be addressed with improved performance.Comment: 8 pages. Accepted to CDC 201
Robust Stability Analysis of Nonlinear Hybrid Systems
We present a methodology for robust stability analysis of nonlinear hybrid systems, through the algorithmic construction of polynomial and piecewise polynomial Lyapunov-like functions using convex optimization and in particular the sum of squares decomposition of multivariate polynomials. Several improvements compared to previous approaches are discussed, such as treating in a unified way polynomial switching surfaces and robust stability analysis for nonlinear hybrid systems
Improving Efficiency and Scalability of Sum of Squares Optimization: Recent Advances and Limitations
It is well-known that any sum of squares (SOS) program can be cast as a
semidefinite program (SDP) of a particular structure and that therein lies the
computational bottleneck for SOS programs, as the SDPs generated by this
procedure are large and costly to solve when the polynomials involved in the
SOS programs have a large number of variables and degree. In this paper, we
review SOS optimization techniques and present two new methods for improving
their computational efficiency. The first method leverages the sparsity of the
underlying SDP to obtain computational speed-ups. Further improvements can be
obtained if the coefficients of the polynomials that describe the problem have
a particular sparsity pattern, called chordal sparsity. The second method
bypasses semidefinite programming altogether and relies instead on solving a
sequence of more tractable convex programs, namely linear and second order cone
programs. This opens up the question as to how well one can approximate the
cone of SOS polynomials by second order representable cones. In the last part
of the paper, we present some recent negative results related to this question.Comment: Tutorial for CDC 201
An Alternating Trust Region Algorithm for Distributed Linearly Constrained Nonlinear Programs, Application to the AC Optimal Power Flow
A novel trust region method for solving linearly constrained nonlinear
programs is presented. The proposed technique is amenable to a distributed
implementation, as its salient ingredient is an alternating projected gradient
sweep in place of the Cauchy point computation. It is proven that the algorithm
yields a sequence that globally converges to a critical point. As a result of
some changes to the standard trust region method, namely a proximal
regularisation of the trust region subproblem, it is shown that the local
convergence rate is linear with an arbitrarily small ratio. Thus, convergence
is locally almost superlinear, under standard regularity assumptions. The
proposed method is successfully applied to compute local solutions to
alternating current optimal power flow problems in transmission and
distribution networks. Moreover, the new mechanism for computing a Cauchy point
compares favourably against the standard projected search as for its activity
detection properties
On the relationship between bilevel decomposition algorithms and direct interior-point methods
Engineers have been using bilevel decomposition algorithms to solve certain nonconvex large-scale optimization problems arising in engineering design projects. These algorithms transform the large-scale problem into a bilevel program with one upperlevel problem (the master problem) and several lower-level problems (the subproblems). Unfortunately, there is analytical and numerical evidence that some of these commonly used bilevel decomposition algorithms may fail to converge even when the starting point is very close to the minimizer. In this paper, we establish a relationship between a particular bilevel decomposition algorithm, which only performs one iteration of an interior-point method when solving the subproblems, and a direct interior-point method, which solves the problem in its original (integrated) form. Using this relationship, we formally prove that the bilevel decomposition algorithm converges locally at a superlinear rate. The relevance of our analysis is that it bridges the gap between the incipient local convergence theory of bilevel decomposition algorithms and the mature theory of direct interior-point methods
Simplification Methods for Sum-of-Squares Programs
A sum-of-squares is a polynomial that can be expressed as a sum of squares of
other polynomials. Determining if a sum-of-squares decomposition exists for a
given polynomial is equivalent to a linear matrix inequality feasibility
problem. The computation required to solve the feasibility problem depends on
the number of monomials used in the decomposition. The Newton polytope is a
method to prune unnecessary monomials from the decomposition. This method
requires the construction of a convex hull and this can be time consuming for
polynomials with many terms. This paper presents a new algorithm for removing
monomials based on a simple property of positive semidefinite matrices. It
returns a set of monomials that is never larger than the set returned by the
Newton polytope method and, for some polynomials, is a strictly smaller set.
Moreover, the algorithm takes significantly less computation than the convex
hull construction. This algorithm is then extended to a more general
simplification method for sum-of-squares programming.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Tensor Numerical Methods in Quantum Chemistry: from Hartree-Fock Energy to Excited States
We resume the recent successes of the grid-based tensor numerical methods and
discuss their prospects in real-space electronic structure calculations. These
methods, based on the low-rank representation of the multidimensional functions
and integral operators, led to entirely grid-based tensor-structured 3D
Hartree-Fock eigenvalue solver. It benefits from tensor calculation of the core
Hamiltonian and two-electron integrals (TEI) in complexity using
the rank-structured approximation of basis functions, electron densities and
convolution integral operators all represented on 3D
Cartesian grids. The algorithm for calculating TEI tensor in a form of the
Cholesky decomposition is based on multiple factorizations using algebraic 1D
``density fitting`` scheme. The basis functions are not restricted to separable
Gaussians, since the analytical integration is substituted by high-precision
tensor-structured numerical quadratures. The tensor approaches to
post-Hartree-Fock calculations for the MP2 energy correction and for the
Bethe-Salpeter excited states, based on using low-rank factorizations and the
reduced basis method, were recently introduced. Another direction is related to
the recent attempts to develop a tensor-based Hartree-Fock numerical scheme for
finite lattice-structured systems, where one of the numerical challenges is the
summation of electrostatic potentials of a large number of nuclei. The 3D
grid-based tensor method for calculation of a potential sum on a lattice manifests the linear in computational work, ,
instead of the usual scaling by the Ewald-type approaches
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