4,231 research outputs found
Convex Hulls of Algebraic Sets
This article describes a method to compute successive convex approximations
of the convex hull of a set of points in R^n that are the solutions to a system
of polynomial equations over the reals. The method relies on sums of squares of
polynomials and the dual theory of moment matrices. The main feature of the
technique is that all computations are done modulo the ideal generated by the
polynomials defining the set to the convexified. This work was motivated by
questions raised by Lov\'asz concerning extensions of the theta body of a graph
to arbitrary real algebraic varieties, and hence the relaxations described here
are called theta bodies. The convexification process can be seen as an
incarnation of Lasserre's hierarchy of convex relaxations of a semialgebraic
set in R^n. When the defining ideal is real radical the results become
especially nice. We provide several examples of the method and discuss
convergence issues. Finite convergence, especially after the first step of the
method, can be described explicitly for finite point sets.Comment: This article was written for the "Handbook of Semidefinite, Cone and
Polynomial Optimization: Theory, Algorithms, Software and Applications
Theta Bodies for Polynomial Ideals
Inspired by a question of Lov\'asz, we introduce a hierarchy of nested
semidefinite relaxations of the convex hull of real solutions to an arbitrary
polynomial ideal, called theta bodies of the ideal. For the stable set problem
in a graph, the first theta body in this hierarchy is exactly Lov\'asz's theta
body of the graph. We prove that theta bodies are, up to closure, a version of
Lasserre's relaxations for real solutions to ideals, and that they can be
computed explicitly using combinatorial moment matrices. Theta bodies provide a
new canonical set of semidefinite relaxations for the max cut problem. For
vanishing ideals of finite point sets, we give several equivalent
characterizations of when the first theta body equals the convex hull of the
points. We also determine the structure of the first theta body for all ideals.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure
Approximate cone factorizations and lifts of polytopes
In this paper we show how to construct inner and outer convex approximations
of a polytope from an approximate cone factorization of its slack matrix. This
provides a robust generalization of the famous result of Yannakakis that
polyhedral lifts of a polytope are controlled by (exact) nonnegative
factorizations of its slack matrix. Our approximations behave well under
polarity and have efficient representations using second order cones. We
establish a direct relationship between the quality of the factorization and
the quality of the approximations, and our results extend to generalized slack
matrices that arise from a polytope contained in a polyhedron
Polytopes of Minimum Positive Semidefinite Rank
The positive semidefinite (psd) rank of a polytope is the smallest for
which the cone of real symmetric psd matrices admits an affine
slice that projects onto the polytope. In this paper we show that the psd rank
of a polytope is at least the dimension of the polytope plus one, and we
characterize those polytopes whose psd rank equals this lower bound. We give
several classes of polytopes that achieve the minimum possible psd rank
including a complete characterization in dimensions two and three
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