We propose an early termination technique for mixed integer conic programming for use within branch-and-bound based solvers. Our approach generalizes previous early termination results for ADMM-based solvers to a broader class of primal-dual algorithms, including both operator splitting methods and interior point methods. The complexity for checking early termination is $O(n)$ for each termination check assuming a bounded problem domain. We show that this domain restriction can be relaxed for problems whose data satisfies a simple rank condition, in which case each check requires an $O(n^2)$ solve using a linear system that must be factored only once at the root node. We further show how this approach can be used in hybrid model predictive control as long as system inputs are bounded. Numerical results show that our method leads to a moderate reduction in the total iterations required for branch-and-bound conic solvers with interior-point based subsolvers.
In this paper we provide a detailed analysis of the iteration complexity of dual first order methods for solving conic convex problems. When it is difficult to project on the primal feasible set described by convex constraints, we use the Lagrangian relaxation to handle the complicated constraints and then, we apply dual first order algorithms for solving the corresponding dual problem. We give convergence analysis for dual first order algorithms (dual gradient and fast gradient algorithms): we provide sublinear or linear estimates on the primal suboptimality and feasibility violation of the g…
We consider cooperative multi-agent consensus optimization problems over an undirected network of agents, where only those agents connected by an edge can directly communicate. The objective is to minimize the sum of agent-specific composite convex functions over agent-specific private conic constraint sets; hence, the optimal consensus decision should lie in the intersection of these private sets. We provide convergence rates both in sub-optimality, infeasibility and consensus violation; examine the effect of underlying network topology on the convergence rates of the proposed decentralized a…
We propose a semi-proximal augmented Lagrangian based decomposition method for convex composite quadratic conic programming problems with primal block angular structures. Using our algorithmic framework, we are able to naturally derive several well known augmented Lagrangian based decomposition methods for stochastic programming such as the diagonal quadratic approximation method of Mulvey and Ruszczyński. Moreover, we are able to derive novel enhancements and generalizations of these well known methods. We also propose a semi-proximal symmetric Gauss-Seidel based alternating direction method …
Conic optimization is the minimization of a convex quadratic function subject to conic constraints. We introduce a novel first-order method for conic optimization, named \emph{extrapolated proportional-integral projected gradient method (xPIPG)}, that automatically detects infeasibility. The iterates of xPIPG either asymptotically satisfy a set of primal-dual optimality conditions, or generate a proof of primal or dual infeasibility. We demonstrate the application of xPIPG using benchmark problems in model predictive control. xPIPG outperforms many state-of-the-art conic optimization solvers, …
A primal--dual interior-point method for nonsymmetric conic optimization with conjugate-free scaling
Nankai University（南开大学）；Suzhou University of Science and Technology（苏州科技大学）；Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院数学与系统科学研究院）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
In a recent paper, Skajaa and Ye proposed a homogeneous primal-dual interior-point method for non-symmetric conic optimization. The authors showed that their algorithm converges to $\varepsilon$-accuracy in $O(\sqrtν\log \varepsilon^{-1})$ iterations, where $ν$ is the complexity parameter associated with a barrier function for the primal cone, and thus achieves the best-known iteration complexity for this class of problems. However, an earlier result from the literature was used incorrectly in the proofs of two intermediate lemmas in that paper. In this note, we propose new proofs of these res…
A Practical GPU-Enhanced Matrix-Free Primal-Dual Method for Large-Scale Conic Programs
Purdue University（普渡大学）；H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院 H. 米尔顿·斯图尔特工业与系统工程学院）；Antai School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院）；Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University（斯坦福大学管理科学与工程系）
A constrained optimization problem is primal infeasible if its constraints cannot be satisfied, and dual infeasible if the constraints of its dual problem cannot be satisfied. We propose a novel iterative method, named proportional-integral projected gradient method (PIPG), for detecting primal and dual infeasiblity in convex optimization with quadratic objective function and conic constraints. The iterates of PIPG either asymptotically provide a proof of primal or dual infeasibility, or asymptotically satisfy a set of primal-dual optimality conditions. Unlike existing methods, PIPG does not c…
Conic optimization is the minimization of a differentiable convex objective function subject to conic constraints. We propose a novel primal-dual first-order method for conic optimization, named proportional-integral projected gradient method (PIPG). PIPG ensures that both the primal-dual gap and the constraint violation converge to zero at the rate of \(O(1/k)\), where \(k\) is the number of iterations. If the objective function is strongly convex, PIPG improves the convergence rate of the primal-dual gap to \(O(1/k^2)\). Further, unlike any existing first-order methods, PIPG also improves th…
We propose a new first-order augmented Lagrangian algorithm ALCC for solving convex conic programs of the form min{rho(x)+gamma(x): Ax-b in K, x in chi}, where rho and gamma are closed convex functions, and gamma has a Lipschitz continuous gradient, A is mxn real matrix, K is a closed convex cone, and chi is a "simple" convex compact set such that optimization problems of the form min{rho(x)+|x-x0|_2^2: x in chi} can be efficiently solved for any given x0. We show that any limit point of the primal ALCC iterates is an optimal solution of the conic convex problem, and the dual ALCC iterates hav…
In this paper we present a complete iteration complexity analysis of inexact first order Lagrangian and penalty methods for solving cone constrained convex problems that have or may not have optimal Lagrange multipliers that close the duality gap. We first assume the existence of optimal Lagrange multipliers and study primal-dual first order methods based on inexact information and augmented Lagrangian smoothing or Nesterov type smoothing. For inexact (fast) gradient augmented Lagrangian methods we derive a total computational complexity of $\mathcal{O}\left(\frac{1}ε\right)$ projections onto …
Slater's condition -- existence of a "strictly feasible solution" -- is a common assumption in conic optimization. Without strict feasibility, first-order optimality conditions may be meaningless, the dual problem may yield little information about the primal, and small changes in the data may render the problem infeasible. Hence, failure of strict feasibility can negatively impact off-the-shelf numerical methods, such as primal-dual interior point methods, in particular. New optimization modelling techniques and convex relaxations for hard nonconvex problems have shown that the loss of strict…
Most numerical methods for conic problems use the homogenous primal-dual embedding, which yields a primal-dual solution or a certificate establishing primal or dual infeasibility. Following Patrinos (and others, 2018), we express the embedding as the problem of finding a zero of a mapping containing a skew-symmetric linear function and projections onto cones and their duals. We focus on the special case when this mapping is regular, i.e., differentiable with nonsingular derivative matrix, at a solution point. While this is not always the case, it is a very common occurrence in practice. We pro…
In this paper, we consider a nonsmooth convex finite-sum problem with a conic constraint. To overcome the challenge of projecting onto the constraint set and computing the full (sub)gradient, we introduce a primal-dual incremental gradient scheme where only a component function and two constraints are used to update each primal-dual sub-iteration in a cyclic order. We demonstrate an asymptotic sublinear rate of convergence in terms of suboptimality and infeasibility which is an improvement over the state-of-the-art incremental gradient schemes in this setting. Numerical results suggest that th…
On the Local Linear Convergence of Operator Splitting Methods for Conic Programming
University of California San Diego（加州大学圣地亚哥分校）；MIT, Sloan School of Management（麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院）；University of Chicago, Department of Statistics（芝加哥大学统计学系）
Theorem of Alternative for Extended Homogeneous Linear System and its Application in Conic Optimization
CORE/INMA, UClouvain, Belgium（UCLouvain）；Corvinus University of Budapest（布达佩斯科维努斯大学）；School of Data Sciences (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen)（香港中文大学（深圳）数据科学学院）
We study infeasible-start primal-dual interior-point methods for convex optimization problems given in a typically natural form we denote as Domain-Driven formulation. Our algorithms extend many advantages of primal-dual interior-point techniques available for conic formulations, such as the current best complexity bounds, and more robust certificates of approximate optimality, unboundedness, and infeasibility, to Domain-Driven formulations. The complexity results are new for the infeasible-start setup used, even in the case of linear programming. In addition to complexity results, our algorit…
We consider the conic linear program given by a closed convex cone in an Euclidean space and a matrix, where vector on the right-hand-side of the constraint system and the vector defining the objective function are subject to change. Using the strict feasibility condition, we prove the locally Lipschitz continuity and obtain some differentiability properties of the optimal value function of the problem under right-hand-side perturbations. For the optimal value function under linear perturbations of the objective function, similar differentiability properties are obtained under the assumption s…
Primal and dual algorithms are developed for solving the $n$-dimensional convex optimization problem of finding the Euclidean ball of minimum radius that covers $m$ given Euclidean balls, each with a given center and radius. Each algorithm is based on a directional search method in which a search path may be a ray or a two-dimensional conic section in $\mathbb{R}^n$. At each iteration, a search path is constructed by the intersection of bisectors of pairs of points, where the bisectors are either hyperplanes or $n$-dimensional hyperboloids. The optimal step size along each search path is deter…
This paper develops a distributed model predictive control (DMPC) strategy for a class of discrete-time linear systems with consideration of globally coupled constraints. The DMPC under study is based on the dual problem concerning all subsystems, which is solved by means of the primal-dual gradient optimization in a distributed manner using Laplacian consensus. To reduce the computational burden, the constraint tightening method is utilized to provide a capability of premature termination with guaranteeing the convergence of the DMPC optimization. The contraction theory is first adopted in th…
Since more than three decades, interior-point methods proved very useful for optimization, from linear over semidefinite to conic (and partly beyond non-convex) programming; despite the fact that already in the semidefinite case (even when strong duality holds) "hard" problems are known. We shade a light on a rather surprising restriction in the non-commutative world (of semidefinite programming), namely "commutative" paths and propose a new family of solvers that is able to use the full richness of "non-commutative" search directions: (primal) feasible-interior-point methods. Beside a detaile…
We propose and analyse primal-dual interior-point algorithms for convex optimization problems in conic form. The families of algorithms we analyse are so-called short-step algorithms and they match the current best iteration complexity bounds for primal-dual symmetric interior-point algorithm of Nesterov and Todd, for symmetric cone programming problems with given self-scaled barriers. Our results apply to any self-concordant barrier for any convex cone. We also prove that certain specializations of our algorithms to hyperbolic cone programming problems (which lie strictly between symmetric co…
In this paper, we define a new, special second order cone as a type-$k$ second order cone. We focus on the case of $k=2$, which can be viewed as SOCO with an additional {\em complicating variable}. For this new problem, we develop the necessary prerequisites, based on previous work for traditional SOCO. We then develop a primal-dual interior point algorithm for solving a type-2 second order conic optimization (SOCO) problem, based on a family of kernel functions suitable for this type-2 SOCO. We finally derive the following iteration bound for our framework: \[\frac{L^γ}{θκγ} \left[2N ψ\left( …
A Technical Note on the Implementation and Use of PDCS
Purdue University（普渡大学）；H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology（佐治亚理工学院 H.米尔顿·斯图尔特工业与系统工程学校）；Antai School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院）；Department of Management Science and Engineering and Institute of Computational & Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University（斯坦福大学管理科学与工程系及计算与数学工程研究所）
In this work, we consider the distributed optimization problem in which each node has its own convex cost function and can communicate directly only with its neighbors, as determined by a directed communication topology (directed graph or digraph). First, we reformulate the optimization problem so that Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) can be utilized. Then, we propose an algorithm, herein called Distributed Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers using Finite-Time Exact Ratio Consensus (D-ADMM-FTERC), to solve the multi-node convex optimization problem, in which every nod…
We introduce a first order method for solving very large convex cone programs. The method uses an operator splitting method, the alternating directions method of multipliers, to solve the homogeneous self-dual embedding, an equivalent feasibility problem involving finding a nonzero point in the intersection of a subspace and a cone. This approach has several favorable properties. Compared to interior-point methods, first-order methods scale to very large problems, at the cost of requiring more time to reach very high accuracy. Compared to other first-order methods for cone programs, our approa…
We study the geometry of convex optimization problems given in a Domain-Driven form and categorize possible statuses of these problems using duality theory. Our duality theory for the Domain-Driven form, which accepts both conic and non-conic constraints, lets us determine and certify statuses of a problem as rigorously as the best approaches for conic formulations (which have been demonstrably very efficient in this context). We analyze the performance of an infeasible-start primal-dual algorithm for the Domain-Driven form in returning the certificates for the defined statuses. Our iteration …
We propose decentralized primal-dual methods for cooperative multi-agent consensus optimization problems over both static and time-varying communication networks, where only local communications are allowed. The objective is to minimize the sum of agent-specific convex functions over conic constraint sets defined by agent-specific nonlinear functions; hence, the optimal consensus decision should lie in the intersection of these private sets. Under the strong convexity assumption, we provide convergence rates for sub-optimality, infeasibility, and consensus violation in terms of the number of c…
Spectral functions on Euclidean Jordan algebras arise frequently in convex models. Despite the success of primal-dual conic interior point solvers, there has been little work on enabling direct support for spectral cones, i.e. proper nonsymmetric cones defined from epigraphs and perspectives of spectral functions. We propose simple logarithmically homogeneous barriers for spectral cones and we derive efficient, numerically stable procedures for evaluating barrier oracles such as inverse Hessian operators. For two useful classes of spectral cones - the root-determinant cones and the matrix mono…
In this paper, we propose a generalized alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) with semi-proximal terms for solving a class of convex composite conic optimization problems, of which some are high-dimensional, to moderate accuracy. Our primary motivation is that this method, together with properly chosen semi-proximal terms, such as those generated by the recent advance of symmetric Gauss-Seidel technique, is applicable to tackling these problems. Moreover, the proposed method, which relaxes both the primal and the dual variables in a natural way with one relaxation factor in the in…
Due to the possible lack of primal-dual-type error bounds, the superlinear convergence for the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) residues of the sequence generated by augmented Lagrangian method (ALM) for solving convex composite conic programming (CCCP) has long been an outstanding open question. In this paper, we aim to resolve this issue by first conducting convergence rate analysis for the ALM with Rockafellar's stopping criteria under only a mild quadratic growth condition on the dual of CCCP. More importantly, by further assuming that the Robinson constraint qualification holds, we establish the …
We present a novel accelerated primal-dual (APD) method for solving a class of deterministic and stochastic saddle point problems (SPP). The basic idea of this algorithm is to incorporate a multi-step acceleration scheme into the primal-dual method without smoothing the objective function. For deterministic SPP, the APD method achieves the same optimal rate of convergence as Nesterov's smoothing technique. Our stochastic APD method exhibits an optimal rate of convergence for stochastic SPP not only in terms of its dependence on the number of the iteration, but also on a variety of problem para…
In this paper, we propose a unified primal-dual algorithm framework based on the augmented Lagrangian function for composite convex problems with conic inequality constraints. The new framework is highly versatile. First, it not only covers many existing algorithms such as PDHG, Chambolle-Pock (CP), GDA, OGDA and linearized ALM, but also guides us to design a new efficient algorithm called Simi-OGDA (SOGDA). Second, it enables us to study the role of the augmented penalty term in the convergence analysis. Interestingly, a properly selected penalty not only improves the numerical performance of…
A mixed-integer convex (MI-convex) optimization problem is one that becomes convex when all integrality constraints are relaxed. We present a branch-and-bound LP outer approximation algorithm for an MI-convex problem transformed to MI-conic form. The polyhedral relaxations are refined with $\mathcal{K}^*$ cuts derived from conic certificates for continuous primal-dual conic subproblems. Under the assumption that all subproblems are well-posed, the algorithm detects infeasibility or unboundedness or returns an optimal solution in finite time. Using properties of the conic certificates, we show …
An Augmented Lagrangian Approach to Conically Constrained Non-monotone Variational Inequality Problems
National Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学国家转化医学中心）；Sino-US Global Logistics Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学中美物流研究院）；School of Data Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen（香港中文大学（深圳）数据科学学院）；University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学）
We consider cooperative multi-agent resource sharing problems over time-varying communication networks, where only local communications are allowed. The objective is to minimize the sum of agent-specific composite convex functions subject to a conic constraint that couples agents' decisions. We propose a distributed primal-dual algorithm DPDA-D to solve the saddle point formulation of the sharing problem on time-varying (un)directed communication networks; and we show that primal-dual iterate sequence converges to a point defined by a primal optimal solution and a consensual dual price for the…
We propose a new self-adaptive, double-loop smoothing algorithm to solve composite, nonsmooth, and constrained convex optimization problems. Our algorithm is based on Nesterov's smoothing technique via general Bregman distance functions. It self-adaptively selects the number of iterations in the inner loop to achieve a desired complexity bound without requiring the accuracy a priori as in variants of Augmented Lagrangian methods (ALM). We prove $\BigO{\frac{1}{k}}$-convergence rate on the last iterate of the outer sequence for both unconstrained and constrained settings in contrast to ergodic …
This paper is devoted to the design of an efficient and convergent {semi-proximal} alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for finding a solution of low to medium accuracy to convex quadratic conic programming and related problems. For this class of problems, the convergent two block semi-proximal ADMM can be employed to solve their primal form in a straightforward way. However, it is known that it is more efficient to apply the directly extended multi-block semi-proximal ADMM, though its convergence is not guaranteed, to the dual form of these problems. Naturally, one may ask the f…
We introduce Newton-ADMM, a method for fast conic optimization. The basic idea is to view the residuals of consecutive iterates generated by the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) as a set of fixed point equations, and then use a nonsmooth Newton method to find a solution; we apply the basic idea to the Splitting Cone Solver (SCS), a state-of-the-art method for solving generic conic optimization problems. We demonstrate theoretically, by extending the theory of semismooth operators, that Newton-ADMM converges rapidly (i.e., quadratically) to a solution; empirically, Newton-ADMM…
We propose an efficient first-order method, based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), to solve the homogeneous self-dual embedding problem for a primal-dual pair of semidefinite programs (SDPs) with chordal sparsity. Using a series of block eliminations, the per-iteration cost of our method is the same as applying a splitting method to the primal or dual alone. Moreover, our approach is more efficient than other first-order methods for generic sparse conic programs since we work with smaller semidefinite cones. In contrast to previous first-order methods that exploit cho…
In recent work, we provide computational arguments for expanding the class of proper cones recognized by conic optimization solvers, to permit simpler, smaller, more natural conic formulations. We define an exotic cone as a proper cone for which we can implement a small set of tractable (i.e. fast, numerically stable, analytic) oracles for a logarithmically homogeneous self-concordant barrier for the cone or for its dual cone. Our extensible, open source conic interior point solver, Hypatia, allows modeling and solving any conic optimization problem over a Cartesian product of exotic cones. In…
Solving Conic Programs over Sparse Graphs using a Variational Quantum Approach: The Case of the AC Optimal Power Flow
Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, USA（电子与计算机工程系，普渡大学）；School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA（电子与计算机工程系，康奈尔大学）
Strong (Lagrangian) duality of general conic optimization problems (COPs) has long been studied and its profound and complicated results appear in different forms in a wide range of literatures. As a result, characterizing the known and unknown results can sometimes be difficult. The aim of this article is to provide a unified and geometric view of strong duality of COPs for the known results. For our framework, we employ a COP minimizing a linear function in a vector variable $x$ subject to a single hyperplane constraint $x \in H$ and two cone constraints $x \in K_1$, $x \in K_2$. It can be i…
