Conic Optimization Theory: Convexification Techniques and Numerical Algorithms

Optimization is at the core of control theory and appears in several areas of this field, such as optimal control, distributed control, system identification, robust control, state estimation, model predictive control and dynamic programming. The recent advances in various topics of modern optimization have also been revamping the area of machine learning. Motivated by the crucial role of optimization theory in the design, analysis, control and operation of real-world systems, this tutorial paper offers a detailed overview of some major advances in this area, namely conic optimization and its emerging applications. First, we discuss the importance of conic optimization in different areas. Then, we explain seminal results on the design of hierarchies of convex relaxations for a wide range of nonconvex problems. Finally, we study different numerical algorithms for large-scale conic optimization problems.Comment: 18 page

Projection methods in conic optimization

There exist efficient algorithms to project a point onto the intersection of a convex cone and an affine subspace. Those conic projections are in turn the work-horse of a range of algorithms in conic optimization, having a variety of applications in science, finance and engineering. This chapter reviews some of these algorithms, emphasizing the so-called regularization algorithms for linear conic optimization, and applications in polynomial optimization. This is a presentation of the material of several recent research articles; we aim here at clarifying the ideas, presenting them in a general framework, and pointing out important techniques

On the Burer-Monteiro method for general semidefinite programs

Consider a semidefinite program (SDP) involving an $n\times n$ positive semidefinite matrix $X$. The Burer-Monteiro method uses the substitution $X=Y Y^T$ to obtain a nonconvex optimization problem in terms of an $n\times p$ matrix $Y$. Boumal et al. showed that this nonconvex method provably solves equality-constrained SDPs with a generic cost matrix when $p \gtrsim \sqrt{2m}$, where $m$ is the number of constraints. In this note we extend their result to arbitrary SDPs, possibly involving inequalities or multiple semidefinite constraints. We derive similar guarantees for a fixed cost matrix and generic constraints. We illustrate applications to matrix sensing and integer quadratic minimization.Comment: 10 page