Guaranteed Minimum-Rank Solutions of Linear Matrix Equations via Nuclear Norm Minimization

The affine rank minimization problem consists of finding a matrix of minimum rank that satisfies a given system of linear equality constraints. Such problems have appeared in the literature of a diverse set of fields including system identification and control, Euclidean embedding, and collaborative filtering. Although specific instances can often be solved with specialized algorithms, the general affine rank minimization problem is NP-hard. In this paper, we show that if a certain restricted isometry property holds for the linear transformation defining the constraints, the minimum rank solution can be recovered by solving a convex optimization problem, namely the minimization of the nuclear norm over the given affine space. We present several random ensembles of equations where the restricted isometry property holds with overwhelming probability. The techniques used in our analysis have strong parallels in the compressed sensing framework. We discuss how affine rank minimization generalizes this pre-existing concept and outline a dictionary relating concepts from cardinality minimization to those of rank minimization

Set optimization - a rather short introduction

Recent developments in set optimization are surveyed and extended including various set relations as well as fundamental constructions of a convex analysis for set- and vector-valued functions, and duality for set optimization problems. Extensive sections with bibliographical comments summarize the state of the art. Applications to vector optimization and financial risk measures are discussed along with algorithmic approaches to set optimization problems

A simple view on convex analysis and its applications

Our aim is to give a simple view on the basics and applications of convex analysis. The essential feature of this account is the systematic use of the possibility to associate to each convex object---such as a convex set, a convex function or a convex extremal problem--- a cone, without loss of information. The core of convex analysis is the possibility of the dual description of convex objects, geometrical and algebraical, based on the duality of vectorspaces; for each type of convex objects, this property is encoded in an operator of duality, and the name of the game is how to calculate these operators. The core of this paper is a unified presentation, for each type of convex objects, of the duality theorem and the complete list of calculus rules. Now we enumerate the advantages of the `cone'-approach. It gives a unified and transparent view on the subject. The intricate rules of the convex calculus all flow naturally from one common source. We have included for each rule a precise description of the weakest convenient assumption under which it is valid. This appears to be useful for applications; however, these assumptioons are usually not given. We explain why certain convex objects have to be excluded in the definition of the operators of duality: the collections of associated cones of the target of an operator of duality need not be closed (here `closed' is meant in an algebraic sense). This makes clear that the remedy is to take the closure of the target. As a byproduct of the cone approach, we have found the solution of the open problem of how to use the polar operation to give a dual description of arbitrary convex sets. The approach given can be extended to the infinite-dimensional case

An Introduction to A Class of Matrix Optimization Problems

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Variational Properties of Decomposable Functions Part II: Strong Second-Order Theory

Local superlinear convergence of the semismooth Newton method usually requires the uniform invertibility of the generalized Jacobian matrix, e.g. BD-regularity or CD-regularity. For several types of nonlinear programming and composite-type optimization problems -- for which the generalized Jacobian of the stationary equation can be calculated explicitly -- this is characterized by the strong second-order sufficient condition. However, general characterizations are still not well understood. In this paper, we propose a strong second-order sufficient condition (SSOSC) for composite problems whose nonsmooth part has a generalized conic-quadratic second subderivative. We then discuss the relationship between the SSOSC and another second order-type condition that involves the generalized Jacobians of the normal map. In particular, these two conditions are equivalent under certain structural assumptions on the generalized Jacobian matrix of the proximity operator. Next, we verify these structural assumptions for $C^2$-strictly decomposable functions via analyzing their second-order variational properties under additional geometric assumptions on the support set of the decomposition pair. Finally, we show that the SSOSC is further equivalent to the strong metric regularity condition of the subdifferential, the normal map, and the natural residual. Counterexamples illustrate the necessity of our assumptions.Comment: 28 pages; preliminary draf

Low rank representations of matrices using nuclear norm heuristics

2014 Summer.The pursuit of low dimensional structure from high dimensional data leads in many instances to the finding the lowest rank matrix among a parameterized family of matrices. In its most general setting, this problem is NP-hard. Different heuristics have been introduced for approaching the problem. Among them is the nuclear norm heuristic for rank minimization. One aspect of this thesis is the application of the nuclear norm heuristic to the Euclidean distance matrix completion problem. As a special case, the approach is applied to the graph embedding problem. More generally, semi-definite programming, convex optimization, and the nuclear norm heuristic are applied to the graph embedding problem in order to extract invariants such as the chromatic number, Rn embeddability, and Borsuk-embeddability. In addition, we apply related techniques to decompose a matrix into components which simultaneously minimize a linear combination of the nuclear norm and the spectral norm. In the case when the Euclidean distance matrix is the distance matrix for a complete k-partite graph it is shown that the nuclear norm of the associated positive semidefinite matrix can be evaluated in terms of the second elementary symmetric polynomial evaluated at the partition. We prove that for k-partite graphs the maximum value of the nuclear norm of the associated positive semidefinite matrix is attained in the situation when we have equal number of vertices in each set of the partition. We use this result to determine a lower bound on the chromatic number of the graph. Finally, we describe a convex optimization approach to decomposition of a matrix into two components using the nuclear norm and spectral norm