861 research outputs found
A Riemannian low-rank method for optimization over semidefinite matrices with block-diagonal constraints
We propose a new algorithm to solve optimization problems of the form for a smooth function under the constraints that is positive
semidefinite and the diagonal blocks of are small identity matrices. Such
problems often arise as the result of relaxing a rank constraint (lifting). In
particular, many estimation tasks involving phases, rotations, orthonormal
bases or permutations fit in this framework, and so do certain relaxations of
combinatorial problems such as Max-Cut. The proposed algorithm exploits the
facts that (1) such formulations admit low-rank solutions, and (2) their
rank-restricted versions are smooth optimization problems on a Riemannian
manifold. Combining insights from both the Riemannian and the convex geometries
of the problem, we characterize when second-order critical points of the smooth
problem reveal KKT points of the semidefinite problem. We compare against state
of the art, mature software and find that, on certain interesting problem
instances, what we call the staircase method is orders of magnitude faster, is
more accurate and scales better. Code is available.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figure
Tightness of the maximum likelihood semidefinite relaxation for angular synchronization
Maximum likelihood estimation problems are, in general, intractable
optimization problems. As a result, it is common to approximate the maximum
likelihood estimator (MLE) using convex relaxations. In some cases, the
relaxation is tight: it recovers the true MLE. Most tightness proofs only apply
to situations where the MLE exactly recovers a planted solution (known to the
analyst). It is then sufficient to establish that the optimality conditions
hold at the planted signal. In this paper, we study an estimation problem
(angular synchronization) for which the MLE is not a simple function of the
planted solution, yet for which the convex relaxation is tight. To establish
tightness in this context, the proof is less direct because the point at which
to verify optimality conditions is not known explicitly.
Angular synchronization consists in estimating a collection of phases,
given noisy measurements of the pairwise relative phases. The MLE for angular
synchronization is the solution of a (hard) non-bipartite Grothendieck problem
over the complex numbers. We consider a stochastic model for the data: a
planted signal (that is, a ground truth set of phases) is corrupted with
non-adversarial random noise. Even though the MLE does not coincide with the
planted signal, we show that the classical semidefinite relaxation for it is
tight, with high probability. This holds even for high levels of noise.Comment: 2 figure
On the local stability of semidefinite relaxations
We consider a parametric family of quadratically constrained quadratic
programs (QCQP) and their associated semidefinite programming (SDP)
relaxations. Given a nominal value of the parameter at which the SDP relaxation
is exact, we study conditions (and quantitative bounds) under which the
relaxation will continue to be exact as the parameter moves in a neighborhood
around the nominal value. Our framework captures a wide array of statistical
estimation problems including tensor principal component analysis, rotation
synchronization, orthogonal Procrustes, camera triangulation and resectioning,
essential matrix estimation, system identification, and approximate GCD. Our
results can also be used to analyze the stability of SOS relaxations of general
polynomial optimization problems.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figure
Approximating the Little Grothendieck Problem over the Orthogonal and Unitary Groups
The little Grothendieck problem consists of maximizing
over binary variables , where C is a
positive semidefinite matrix. In this paper we focus on a natural
generalization of this problem, the little Grothendieck problem over the
orthogonal group. Given C a dn x dn positive semidefinite matrix, the objective
is to maximize restricting to take
values in the group of orthogonal matrices, where denotes the (ij)-th
d x d block of C. We propose an approximation algorithm, which we refer to as
Orthogonal-Cut, to solve this problem and show a constant approximation ratio.
Our method is based on semidefinite programming. For a given , we show
a constant approximation ratio of , where is
the expected average singular value of a d x d matrix with random Gaussian
i.i.d. entries. For d=1 we recover the known
approximation guarantee for the classical little Grothendieck problem. Our
algorithm and analysis naturally extends to the complex valued case also
providing a constant approximation ratio for the analogous problem over the
Unitary Group.
Orthogonal-Cut also serves as an approximation algorithm for several
applications, including the Procrustes problem where it improves over the best
previously known approximation ratio of~. The little
Grothendieck problem falls under the class of problems approximated by a recent
algorithm proposed in the context of the non-commutative Grothendieck
inequality. Nonetheless, our approach is simpler and it provides a more
efficient algorithm with better approximation ratios and matching integrality
gaps.
Finally, we also provide an improved approximation algorithm for the more
general little Grothendieck problem over the orthogonal (or unitary) group with
rank constraints.Comment: Updates in version 2: extension to the complex valued (unitary group)
case, sharper lower bounds on the approximation ratios, matching integrality
gap, and a generalized rank constrained version of the problem. Updates in
version 3: Improvement on the expositio
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