Convex Optimal Uncertainty Quantification

Optimal uncertainty quantification (OUQ) is a framework for numerical extreme-case analysis of stochastic systems with imperfect knowledge of the underlying probability distribution. This paper presents sufficient conditions under which an OUQ problem can be reformulated as a finite-dimensional convex optimization problem, for which efficient numerical solutions can be obtained. The sufficient conditions include that the objective function is piecewise concave and the constraints are piecewise convex. In particular, we show that piecewise concave objective functions may appear in applications where the objective is defined by the optimal value of a parameterized linear program.Comment: Accepted for publication in SIAM Journal on Optimizatio

On the computation of Gaussian quadrature rules for Chebyshev sets of linearly independent functions

We consider the computation of quadrature rules that are exact for a Chebyshev set of linearly independent functions on an interval $[a,b]$. A general theory of Chebyshev sets guarantees the existence of rules with a Gaussian property, in the sense that $2l$ basis functions can be integrated exactly with just $l$ points and weights. Moreover, all weights are positive and the points lie inside the interval $[a,b]$. However, the points are not the roots of an orthogonal polynomial or any other known special function as in the case of regular Gaussian quadrature. The rules are characterized by a nonlinear system of equations, and earlier numerical methods have mostly focused on finding suitable starting values for a Newton iteration to solve this system. In this paper we describe an alternative scheme that is robust and generally applicable for so-called complete Chebyshev sets. These are ordered Chebyshev sets where the first $k$ elements also form a Chebyshev set for each $k$. The points of the quadrature rule are computed one by one, increasing exactness of the rule in each step. Each step reduces to finding the unique root of a univariate and monotonic function. As such, the scheme of this paper is guaranteed to succeed. The quadrature rules are of interest for integrals with non-smooth integrands that are not well approximated by polynomials

Boundary integral methods in high frequency scattering

In this article we review recent progress on the design, analysis and implementation of numerical-asymptotic boundary integral methods for the computation of frequency-domain acoustic scattering in a homogeneous unbounded medium by a bounded obstacle. The main aim of the methods is to allow computation of scattering at arbitrarily high frequency with finite computational resources