Algorithms for generalized potential games with mixed-integer variables

We consider generalized potential games, that constitute a fundamental subclass of generalized Nash equilibrium problems. We propose different methods to compute solutions of generalized potential games with mixed-integer variables, i.e., games in which some variables are continuous while the others are discrete. We investigate which types of equilibria of the game can be computed by minimizing a potential function over the common feasible set. In particular, for a wide class of generalized potential games, we characterize those equilibria that can be computed by minimizing potential functions as Pareto solutions of a particular multi-objective problem, and we show how different potential functions can be used to select equilibria. We propose a new Gauss–Southwell algorithm to compute approximate equilibria of any generalized potential game with mixed-integer variables. We show that this method converges in a finite number of steps and we also give an upper bound on this number of steps. Moreover, we make a thorough analysis on the behaviour of approximate equilibria with respect to exact ones. Finally, we make many numerical experiments to show the viability of the proposed approaches

Linear Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problems

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden verallgemeinerte Nash Spiele (LGNEPs) unter Linearitätsannahmen eingeführt und untersucht. Durch Ausnutzung der speziellen Struktur lassen sich theoretische und algorithmische Resultate erzielen, die weit über die Ergebnisse für allgemeine LGNEPs hinausgehen

Local Convergence of Newton-type Methods for Nonsmooth Constrained Equations and Applications

In this thesis we consider constrained systems of equations. The focus is on local Newton-type methods for the solution of constrained systems which converge locally quadratically under mild assumptions implying neither local uniqueness of solutions nor differentiability of the equation function at solutions. The first aim of this thesis is to improve existing local convergence results of the constrained Levenberg-Marquardt method. To this end, we describe a general Newton-type algorithm. Then we prove local quadratic convergence of this general algorithm under the same four assumptions which were recently used for the local convergence analysis of the LP-Newton method. Afterwards, we show that, besides the LP-Newton method, the constrained Levenberg-Marquardt method can be regarded as a special realization of the general Newton-type algorithm and therefore enjoys the same local convergence properties. Thus, local quadratic convergence of a nonsmooth constrained Levenberg-Marquardt method is proved without requiring conditions implying the local uniqueness of solutions. As already mentioned, we use four assumptions for the local convergence analysis of the general Newton-type algorithm. The second aim of this thesis is a detailed discussion of these convergence assumptions for the case that the equation function of the constrained system is piecewise continuously differentiable. Some of the convergence assumptions seem quite technical and difficult to check. Therefore, we look for sufficient conditions which are still mild but which seem to be more familiar. We will particularly prove that the whole set of the convergence assumptions holds if some set of local error bound conditions is satisfied and in addition the feasible set of the constrained system excludes those zeros of the selection functions which are not zeros of the equation function itself, at least in a sufficiently small neighborhood of some fixed solution. We apply our results to constrained systems arising from complementarity systems, i.e., systems of equations and inequalities which contain complementarity constraints. Our new conditions are discussed for a suitable reformulation of the complementarity system as constrained system of equations by means of the minimum function. In particular, it will turn out that the whole set of the convergence assumptions is actually implied by some set of local error bound conditions. In addition, we provide a new constant rank condition implying the whole set of the convergence assumptions. Particularly, we provide adapted formulations of our new conditions for special classes of complementarity systems. We consider Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) systems arising from optimization problems, variational inequalities, or generalized Nash equilibrium problems (GNEPs) and Fritz-John (FJ) systems arising from GNEPs. Thus, we obtain for each problem class conditions which guarantee local quadratic convergence of the general Newton-type algorithm and its special realizations to a solution of the particular problem. Moreover, we prove for FJ systems of GNEPs that generically some full row rank condition is satisfied at any solution of the FJ system of a GNEP. The latter condition implies the whole set of the convergence assumptions if the functions which characterize the GNEP are sufficiently smooth. Finally, we describe an idea for a possible globalization of our Newton-type methods, at least for the case that the constrained system arises from a certain smooth reformulation of the KKT system of a GNEP. More precisely, a hybrid method is presented whose local part is the LP-Newton method. The hybrid method turns out to be, under appropriate conditions, both globally and locally quadratically convergent