We study the complexity of cutting planes and branching schemes from a theoretical point of view. We give some rigorous underpinnings to the empirically observed phenomenon that combining cutting planes and branching into a branch-and-cut framework can be orders of magnitude more efficient than employing these tools on their own. In particular, we give general conditions under which a cutting plane strategy and a branching scheme give a provably exponential advantage in efficiency when combined into branch-and-cut. The efficiency of these algorithms is evaluated using two concrete measures: number of iterations and sparsity of constraints used in the intermediate linear/convex programs. To the best of our knowledge, our results are the first mathematically rigorous demonstration of the superiority of branch-and-cut over pure cutting planes and pure branch-and-bound.
In this paper we give a generalization of the well known split cuts of Cook, Kannan and Schrijver to cuts which are based on multi-term disjunctions. They will be called k-disjunctive cuts. The starting point is the question what kind of cuts is needed for a finite cutting plane algorithm for general mixed integer programs. We will deal with this question in detail and derive cutting planes based on k-disjunctions related to a given cut vector. Finally we will show how a finite cutting plane algorithm can be established using these cuts in combination with Gomory mixed integer cuts.
Cutting planes are a key ingredient to successfully solve mixed-integer linear programs. For specific problems, their strength is often theoretically assessed by showing that they are facet-defining for the corresponding mixed-integer hull. In this paper we experimentally investigate the dimensions of faces induced by general-purpose cutting planes generated by a state-of-the-art solver. Therefore, we relate the dimension of each cutting plane to its impact in a branch-and-bound algorithm.
We investigate the theoretical complexity of branch-and-bound (BB) and cutting plane (CP) algorithms for mixed-integer optimization. In particular, we study the relative efficiency of BB and CP, when both are based on the same family of disjunctions. We extend a result of Dash to the nonlinear setting which shows that for convex 0/1 problems, CP does at least as well as BB, with variable disjunctions. We sharpen this by giving instances of the stable set problem where we can provably establish that CP does exponentially better than BB. We further show that if one moves away from 0/1 sets, this…
Many problems of interest for cyber-physical network systems can be formulated as Mixed Integer Linear Programs in which the constraints are distributed among the agents. In this paper we propose a distributed algorithm to solve this class of optimization problems in a peer-to-peer network with no coordinator and with limited computation and communication capabilities. In the proposed algorithm, at each communication round, agents solve locally a small LP, generate suitable cutting planes, namely intersection cuts and cost-based cuts, and communicate a fixed number of active constraints, i.e.,…
The incorporation of cutting planes within the branch-and-bound algorithm, known as branch-and-cut, forms the backbone of modern integer programming solvers. These solvers are the foremost method for solving discrete optimization problems and thus have a vast array of applications in machine learning, operations research, and many other fields. Choosing cutting planes effectively is a major research topic in the theory and practice of integer programming. We conduct a novel structural analysis of branch-and-cut that pins down how every step of the algorithm is affected by changes in the parame…
In this paper, we propose a cutting plane algorithm based on DC (Difference-of-Convex) programming and DC cut for globally solving Mixed-Binary Linear Program (MBLP). We first use a classical DC programming formulation via the exact penalization to formulate MBLP as a DC program, which can be solved by DCA algorithm. Then, we focus on the construction of DC cuts, which serves either as a local cut (namely type-I DC cut) at feasible local minimizer of MBLP, or as a global cut (namely type-II DC cut) at infeasible local minimizer of MBLP if some particular assumptions are verified. Otherwise, th…
While many classes of cutting-planes are at the disposal of integer programming solvers, our scientific understanding is far from complete with regards to cutting-plane selection, i.e., the task of selecting a portfolio of cutting-planes to be added to the LP relaxation at a given node of the branch-and-bound tree. In this paper we review the different classes of cutting-planes available, known theoretical results about their relative strength, important issues pertaining to cut selection, and discuss some possible new directions to be pursued in order to accomplish cutting-plane selection in …
In this paper, we present a novel approach for solving a maintenance scheduling problem from the French electricity grid company RTE, as presented in the ROADEF 2020 challenge. Our approach combines constraint generation with a new family of cutting planes to address the nonconvexity of the problem. We provide mathematical proofs and separation algorithms for the cutting planes and study the practical impact of our approach on the challenge instances. This method is applicable to a wide range of problems involving the modeling of uncertainty, and is shown to improve results significantly on re…
Split cuts are cutting planes for mixed integer programs whose validity is derived from maximal lattice point free polyhedra of the form $S:=\{x : π_0 \leq π^T x \leq π_0+1 \}$ called split sets. The set obtained by adding all split cuts is called the split closure, and the split closure is known to be a polyhedron. A split set $S$ has max-facet-width equal to one in the sense that $\max\{π^T x : x \in S \}-\min\{π^T x : x \in S \} \leq 1$. In this paper we consider using general lattice point free rational polyhedra to derive valid cuts for mixed integer linear sets. We say that lattice point…
We introduce a stochastic version of the cutting-plane method for a large class of data-driven Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimization (MINLO) problems. We show that under very weak assumptions the stochastic algorithm is able to converge to an $ε$-optimal solution with high probability. Numerical experiments on several problems show that stochastic cutting planes is able to deliver a multiple order-of-magnitude speedup compared to the standard cutting-plane method. We further experimentally explore the lower limits of sampling for stochastic cutting planes and show that for many problems, a samp…
Recently, Kronqvist et al.~\cite{KronqvistLundellWesterlund2016} rediscovered the supporting hyperplane algorithm of Veinott~\cite{Veinott1967} and demonstrated its computational benefits for solving convex mixed-integer nonlinear programs. In this paper we derive the algorithm from a geometric point of view. This enables us to show that the supporting hyperplane algorithm is equivalent to Kelley's cutting plane algorithm~\cite{J.E.Kelley1960} applied to a particular reformulation of the problem. As a result, we extend the applicability of the supporting hyperplane algorithm to convex problems…
In contrast to the many continuous global optimization methods that assume the objective function and constraints are factorable, we study how to find globally maximal solutions to problems that are not factorable, focusing on a particular class of problems. Specifically, we develop a method for non-decreasing continuous submodular functions subject to constraints. We characterize the hypograph of such functions and develop a cutting plane algorithm that finds approximate solutions and bounds using an approximation of the convex hull of the hypograph. We also test a spatial branch-and-bound ap…
We study a mixed integer linear program with m integer variables and k non-negative continuous variables in the form of the relaxation of the corner polyhedron that was introduced by Andersen, Louveaux, Weismantel and Wolsey [Inequalities from two rows of a simplex tableau, Proc. IPCO 2007, LNCS, vol. 4513, Springer, pp. 1--15]. We describe the facets of this mixed integer linear program via the extreme points of a well-defined polyhedron. We then utilize this description to give polynomial time algorithms to derive valid inequalities with optimal l_p norm for arbitrary, but fixed m. For the c…
CMU（卡内基梅隆大学）；Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学）；Drexel University（德雷塞尔大学）；UIUC（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）；UCLA（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；Bosch Center for AI（博世人工智能中心）
Bound propagation methods, when combined with branch and bound, are among the most effective methods to formally verify properties of deep neural networks such as correctness, robustness, and safety. However, existing works cannot handle the general form of cutting plane constraints widely accepted in traditional solvers, which are crucial for strengthening verifiers with tightened convex relaxations. In this paper, we generalize the bound propagation procedure to allow the addition of arbitrary cutting plane constraints, including those involving relaxed integer variables that do not appear i…
Technische Universität Berlin（柏林工业大学）；Zuse Institute Berlin（柏林祖斯研究所）；Fair Isaac Deutschland GmbH（费埃哲德国有限公司）
Cutting planes are a crucial component of state-of-the-art mixed-integer programming solvers, with the choice of which subset of cuts to add being vital for solver performance. We propose new distance-based measures to qualify the value of a cut by quantifying the extent to which it separates relevant parts of the relaxed feasible set. For this purpose, we use the analytic centers of the relaxation polytope or of its optimal face, as well as alternative optimal solutions of the linear programming relaxation. We assess the impact of the choice of distance measure on root node performance and th…
A natural and important generalization of submodularity -- $k$-submodularity -- applies to set functions with $k$ arguments and appears in a broad range of applications, such as infrastructure design, machine learning, and healthcare. In this paper, we study maximization problems with $k$-submodular objective functions. We propose valid linear inequalities, namely the $k$-submodular inequalities, for the hypograph of any $k$-submodular function. This class of inequalities serves as a novel generalization of the well-known submodular inequalities. We show that maximizing a $k$-submodular functi…
In this paper, we present an analysis of the strength of sparse cutting-planes for mixed integer linear programs (MILP) with sparse formulations. We examine three kinds of problems: packing problems, covering problems, and more general MILPs with the only assumption that the objective function is non-negative. Given a MILP instance of one of these three types, assume that we decide on the support of cutting-planes to be used and the strongest inequalities on these supports are added to the linear programming relaxation. Call the optimal objective function value of the linear programming relaxa…
An important problem in optimization is the construction of mixed-integer programming (MIP) formulations of disjunctive constraints that are both strong and small. Motivated by lower bounds on the number of integer variables that are required by traditional MIP formulations, we present a more general mixed-integer branching formulation framework. Our approach maintains favorable algorithmic properties of traditional MIP formulations: in particular, amenability to branch-and-bound and branch-and-cut algorithms. Our main technical result gives an explicit linear inequality description for both t…
We study quantitative criteria for evaluating the strength of valid inequalities for Gomory and Johnson's finite and infinite group models and we describe the valid inequalities that are optimal for these criteria. We justify and focus on the criterion of maximizing the volume of the nonnegative orthant cut off by a valid inequality. For the finite group model of prime order, we show that the unique maximizer is an automorphism of the {\em Gomory Mixed-Integer (GMI) cut} for a possibly {\em different} finite group problem of the same order. We extend the notion of volume of a simplex to the in…
This paper studies mean-risk portfolio optimization models using the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) as a risk measure. We also employ a cardinality constraint for limiting the number of invested assets. Solving such a cardinality-constrained mean-CVaR model is computationally challenging for two main reasons. First, this model is formulated as a mixed-integer optimization (MIO) problem because of the cardinality constraint, so solving it exactly is very hard when the number of investable assets is large. Second, the problem size depends on the number of asset return scenarios, and the comput…
We propose an analytic center cutting plane method to determine if a matrix is completely positive, and return a cut that separates it from the completely positive cone if not. This was stated as an open (computational) problem by Berman, Dür, and Shaked-Monderer [Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, 2015]. Our method optimizes over the intersection of a ball and the copositive cone, where membership is determined by solving a mixed-integer linear program suggested by Xia, Vera, and Zuluaga [INFORMS Journal on Computing, 2018]. Thus, our algorithm can, more generally, be used to solve any cop…
We present a generic branch-and-bound algorithm for finding all the Pareto solutions of a biobjective mixed-integer linear program. The main contributions are new algorithms for obtaining dual bounds at a node, for checking node fathoming, presolve and duality gap measurement. Our branch-and-bound is predominantly a decision space search method since the branching is performed on the decision variables, akin to single objective problems, although we also sometimes split gaps and branch in the objective space. The various algorithms are implemented using a data structure for storing Pareto sets…
We investigate how the numerical properties of the LP relaxations evolve throughout the solution procedure in a solver employing the branch-and-cut algorithm. The long-term goal of this work is to determine whether the effect on the numerical conditioning of the LP relaxations resulting from the branching and cutting operations can be effectively predicted and whether such predictions can be used to make better algorithmic choices. In a first step towards this goal, we discuss here the numerical behavior of an existing solver in order to determine whether our intuitive understanding of this be…
This work attempts to combine the strengths of two major technologies that have matured over the last three decades: global mixed-integer nonlinear optimization and branch-and-price. We consider a class of generally nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs) with linear complicating constraints and integer linking variables. If the complicating constraints are removed, the problem becomes easy to solve, e.g. due to decomposable structure. Integrality of the linking variables allows us to apply a discretization approach to derive a Dantzig-Wolfe reformulation and solve the problem to g…
We consider the global optimization of nonconvex quadratic programs and mixed-integer quadratic programs. We present a family of convex quadratic relaxations which are derived by convexifying nonconvex quadratic functions through perturbations of the quadratic matrix. We investigate the theoretical properties of these quadratic relaxations and show that they are equivalent to some particular semidefinite programs. We also introduce novel branching variable selection strategies which can be used in conjunction with the quadratic relaxations investigated in this paper. We integrate the proposed …
Let $P$ be a rational polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and let $\mathcal{L}$ be a class of $d$-dimensional maximal lattice-free rational polyhedra in $\mathbb{R}^d$. For $L \in \mathcal{L}$ by $R_L(P)$ we denote the convex hull of points belonging to $P$ but not to the interior of $L$. Andersen, Louveaux and Weismantel showed that if the so-called max-facet-width of all $L \in \mathcal{L}$ is bounded from above by a constant independent of $L$, then $\bigcap_{L\in \mathcal{L}} R_L(P)$ is a rational polyhedron. We give a short proof of a generalization of this result. We also give a characterizatio…
Sparse cutting-planes are often the ones used in mixed-integer programing (MIP) solvers, since they help in solving the linear programs encountered during branch-&-bound more efficiently. However, how well can we approximate the integer hull by just using sparse cutting-planes? In order to understand this question better, given a polyope $P$ (e.g. the integer hull of a MIP), let $P^k$ be its best approximation using cuts with at most $k$ non-zero coefficients. We consider $d(P, P^k) = \max_{x \in P^k} \left(min_{y \in P} \| x - y\|\right)$ as a measure of the quality of sparse cuts. In our fir…
A key ingredient in branch and bound (B&B) solvers for mixed-integer programming (MIP) is the selection of branching variables since poor or arbitrary selection can affect the size of the resulting search trees by orders of magnitude. A recent article by Le Bodic and Nemhauser [Mathematical Programming, (2017)] investigated variable selection rules by developing a theoretical model of B&B trees from which they developed some new, effective scoring functions for MIP solvers. In their work, Le Bodic and Nemhauser left several open theoretical problems, solutions to which could guide the future d…
The current bottleneck of globally solving mixed-integer (non-convex) quadratically constrained problem (MIQCP) is still to construct strong but computationally cheap convex relaxations, especially when dense quadratic functions are present. We propose a cutting surface procedure based on multiple diagonal perturbations to derive strong convex quadratic relaxations for nonconvex quadratic problem with separable constraints. Our resulting relaxation does not use significantly more variables than the original problem, in contrast to many other relaxations based on lifting. The corresponding sepa…
Renal patients which have a willing but incompatible donor can decide to participate in a kidney exchange program (KEP). The goal of a KEP is to identify sets of such incompatible pairs that can exchange donors, leading to compatible transplants for each recipient. There is significant uncertainty involved in this process, as planned transplants may be canceled for a plethora of reasons. It is therefore crucial to take into account failures while planning exchanges. In this paper, we consider a robust variant of this problem with recourse studied in the literature that takes into account verte…
We investigate robust optimization problems defined for maximizing convex functions. For finite uncertainty set, we develop a geometric branch-and-bound algorithmic approach to solve this problem. The geometric branch-and-bound algorithm performs sequential piecewise-linear approximations of the convex objective, and solves linear programs to determine lower and upper bounds of nodes specified by the active linear pieces. Finite convergence of the algorithm to an $ε-$optimal solution is proved. Numerical results are used to discuss the performance of the developed algorithm. The algorithm deve…
In this paper, we describe a comprehensive algorithmic framework for solving mixed integer bilevel linear optimization problems (MIBLPs) using a generalized branch-and-cut approach. The framework presented merges features from existing algorithms (for both traditional mixed integer linear optimization and MIBLPs) with new techniques to produce a flexible and robust framework capable of solving a wide range of bilevel optimization problems. The framework has been fully implemented in the open-source solver MibS. The paper describes the algorithmic options offered by MibS and presents computatio…
ETH Zürich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）；Vector Institute（向量研究所）；HEC Montréal（蒙特利尔高等商学院）；Mila（米拉研究所）；University of Toronto（多伦多大学）
Cutting planes are essential for solving mixed-integer linear problems (MILPs), because they facilitate bound improvements on the optimal solution value. For selecting cuts, modern solvers rely on manually designed heuristics that are tuned to gauge the potential effectiveness of cuts. We show that a greedy selection rule explicitly looking ahead to select cuts that yield the best bound improvement delivers strong decisions for cut selection - but is too expensive to be deployed in practice. In response, we propose a new neural architecture (NeuralCut) for imitation learning on the lookahead e…
