124 research outputs found
Semidefinite Approximations of the Matrix Logarithm
© 2018, SFoCM. The matrix logarithm, when applied to Hermitian positive definite matrices, is concave with respect to the positive semidefinite order. This operator concavity property leads to numerous concavity and convexity results for other matrix functions, many of which are of importance in quantum information theory. In this paper we show how to approximate the matrix logarithm with functions that preserve operator concavity and can be described using the feasible regions of semidefinite optimization problems of fairly small size. Such approximations allow us to use off-the-shelf semidefinite optimization solvers for convex optimization problems involving the matrix logarithm and related functions, such as the quantum relative entropy. The basic ingredients of our approach apply, beyond the matrix logarithm, to functions that are operator concave and operator monotone. As such, we introduce strategies for constructing semidefinite approximations that we expect will be useful, more generally, for studying the approximation power of functions with small semidefinite representations
Diagonal and Low-Rank Matrix Decompositions, Correlation Matrices, and Ellipsoid Fitting
In this paper we establish links between, and new results for, three problems
that are not usually considered together. The first is a matrix decomposition
problem that arises in areas such as statistical modeling and signal
processing: given a matrix formed as the sum of an unknown diagonal matrix
and an unknown low rank positive semidefinite matrix, decompose into these
constituents. The second problem we consider is to determine the facial
structure of the set of correlation matrices, a convex set also known as the
elliptope. This convex body, and particularly its facial structure, plays a
role in applications from combinatorial optimization to mathematical finance.
The third problem is a basic geometric question: given points
(where ) determine whether there is a centered
ellipsoid passing \emph{exactly} through all of the points.
We show that in a precise sense these three problems are equivalent.
Furthermore we establish a simple sufficient condition on a subspace that
ensures any positive semidefinite matrix with column space can be
recovered from for any diagonal matrix using a convex
optimization-based heuristic known as minimum trace factor analysis. This
result leads to a new understanding of the structure of rank-deficient
correlation matrices and a simple condition on a set of points that ensures
there is a centered ellipsoid passing through them.Comment: 20 page
Finding quantum algorithms via convex optimization
In this paper we describe how to use convex optimization to design quantum algorithms for certain computational tasks. In particular, we consider the ordered search problem, where it is desired to find a specific item in an ordered
list of N items. While the best classical algorithm for this
problem uses log_2 N queries to the list, a quantum computer
can solve this problem much faster. By characterizing a class of quantum query algorithms for ordered search in terms of a semidefinite program, we find quantum algorithms using 4 log_(605) N ≈ 0.433 log_2 N queries, which improves upon the previously best known exact algorithm
A Hierarchy of Near-Optimal Policies for Multistage Adaptive Optimization
In this paper, we propose a new tractable framework for dealing with linear dynamical systems affected by uncertainty, applicable to multistage robust optimization and stochastic programming. We introduce a hierarchy of near-optimal polynomial disturbance-feedback control policies, and show how these can be computed by solving a single semidefinite programming problem. The approach yields a hierarchy parameterized by a single variable (the degree of the polynomial policies), which controls the trade-off between the optimality gap and the computational requirements. We evaluate our framework in the context of three classical applications-two in inventory management, and one in robust regulation of an active suspension system-in which very strong numerical performance is exhibited, at relatively modest computational expense.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant EFRI-0735905)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMI-0556106)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-06-1-0303
Detecting multipartite entanglement
We discuss the problem of determining whether the state of several quantum
mechanical subsystems is entangled. As in previous work on two subsystems we
introduce a procedure for checking separability that is based on finding state
extensions with appropriate properties and may be implemented as a semidefinite
program. The main result of this work is to show that there is a series of
tests of this kind such that if a multiparty state is entangled this will
eventually be detected by one of the tests. The procedure also provides a means
of constructing entanglement witnesses that could in principle be measured in
order to demonstrate that the state is entangled.Comment: 9 pages, REVTE
Improved quantum algorithms for the ordered search problem via semidefinite programming
One of the most basic computational problems is the task of finding a desired
item in an ordered list of N items. While the best classical algorithm for this
problem uses log_2 N queries to the list, a quantum computer can solve the
problem using a constant factor fewer queries. However, the precise value of
this constant is unknown. By characterizing a class of quantum query algorithms
for ordered search in terms of a semidefinite program, we find new quantum
algorithms for small instances of the ordered search problem. Extending these
algorithms to arbitrarily large instances using recursion, we show that there
is an exact quantum ordered search algorithm using 4 log_{605} N \approx 0.433
log_2 N queries, which improves upon the previously best known exact algorithm.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Flows and Decompositions of Games: Harmonic and Potential Games
In this paper we introduce a novel flow representation for finite games in
strategic form. This representation allows us to develop a canonical direct sum
decomposition of an arbitrary game into three components, which we refer to as
the potential, harmonic and nonstrategic components. We analyze natural classes
of games that are induced by this decomposition, and in particular, focus on
games with no harmonic component and games with no potential component. We show
that the first class corresponds to the well-known potential games. We refer to
the second class of games as harmonic games, and study the structural and
equilibrium properties of this new class of games. Intuitively, the potential
component of a game captures interactions that can equivalently be represented
as a common interest game, while the harmonic part represents the conflicts
between the interests of the players. We make this intuition precise, by
studying the properties of these two classes, and show that indeed they have
quite distinct and remarkable characteristics. For instance, while finite
potential games always have pure Nash equilibria, harmonic games generically
never do. Moreover, we show that the nonstrategic component does not affect the
equilibria of a game, but plays a fundamental role in their efficiency
properties, thus decoupling the location of equilibria and their payoff-related
properties. Exploiting the properties of the decomposition framework, we obtain
explicit expressions for the projections of games onto the subspaces of
potential and harmonic games. This enables an extension of the properties of
potential and harmonic games to "nearby" games. We exemplify this point by
showing that the set of approximate equilibria of an arbitrary game can be
characterized through the equilibria of its projection onto the set of
potential games
Computation with Polynomial Equations and Inequalities arising in Combinatorial Optimization
The purpose of this note is to survey a methodology to solve systems of
polynomial equations and inequalities. The techniques we discuss use the
algebra of multivariate polynomials with coefficients over a field to create
large-scale linear algebra or semidefinite programming relaxations of many
kinds of feasibility or optimization questions. We are particularly interested
in problems arising in combinatorial optimization.Comment: 28 pages, survey pape
Sums of hermitian squares and the BMV conjecture
Recently Lieb and Seiringer showed that the Bessis-Moussa-Villani conjecture
from quantum physics can be restated in the following purely algebraic way: The
sum of all words in two positive semidefinite matrices where the number of each
of the two letters is fixed is always a matrix with nonnegative trace. We show
that this statement holds if the words are of length at most 13. This has
previously been known only up to length 7. In our proof, we establish a
connection to sums of hermitian squares of polynomials in noncommuting
variables and to semidefinite programming. As a by-product we obtain an example
of a real polynomial in two noncommuting variables having nonnegative trace on
all symmetric matrices of the same size, yet not being a sum of hermitian
squares and commutators.Comment: 21 pages; minor changes; a companion Mathematica notebook is now
available in the source fil
The matricial relaxation of a linear matrix inequality
Given linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) L_1 and L_2, it is natural to ask:
(Q1) when does one dominate the other, that is, does L_1(X) PsD imply L_2(X)
PsD? (Q2) when do they have the same solution set? Such questions can be
NP-hard. This paper describes a natural relaxation of an LMI, based on
substituting matrices for the variables x_j. With this relaxation, the
domination questions (Q1) and (Q2) have elegant answers, indeed reduce to
constructible semidefinite programs. Assume there is an X such that L_1(X) and
L_2(X) are both PD, and suppose the positivity domain of L_1 is bounded. For
our "matrix variable" relaxation a positive answer to (Q1) is equivalent to the
existence of matrices V_j such that L_2(x)=V_1^* L_1(x) V_1 + ... + V_k^*
L_1(x) V_k. As for (Q2) we show that, up to redundancy, L_1 and L_2 are
unitarily equivalent.
Such algebraic certificates are typically called Positivstellensaetze and the
above are examples of such for linear polynomials. The paper goes on to derive
a cleaner and more powerful Putinar-type Positivstellensatz for polynomials
positive on a bounded set of the form {X | L(X) PsD}.
An observation at the core of the paper is that the relaxed LMI domination
problem is equivalent to a classical problem. Namely, the problem of
determining if a linear map from a subspace of matrices to a matrix algebra is
"completely positive".Comment: v1: 34 pages, v2: 41 pages; supplementary material is available in
the source file, or see http://srag.fmf.uni-lj.si
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