arXiv subjects

Andreas Bärmann

Publications and source records attributed to Andreas Bärmann.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Enhancements of Discretization Approaches for Non-Convex Mixed-Integer Quadratically Constraint Quadratic Programming: Part I

We study mixed-integer programming (MIP) relaxation techniques for the solution of non convex mixed-integer quadratically constrained quadratic programs (MIQCQPs). We present MIP relaxation methods for non convex continuous variable products. In Part I, we consider MIP relaxations based on separable reformulation. The main focus is the introduction of the enhanced separable MIP relaxation for nonconvex quadratic products of the form z=xy, called hybrid separable (HybS). Additionally, we introduce a logarithmic MIP relaxation for univariate quadratic terms, called sawtooth relaxation. We combine the latter with HybS and existing separable reformulations to derive MIP relaxations of MIQCQPs. We provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of these techniques, underlining the theoretical advantages of HybS compared to its predecessors. We perform a broad computational study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the enhanced MIP relaxation in terms of producing tight dual bounds for MIQCQPs. In Part II, we study MIP relaxations that extend the well-known MIP relaxation normalized multiparametric disaggregation technique (NMDT) and present further theoretical and computational analyses.

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arXiv2023

Data-driven Distributionally Robust Optimization over Time

Stochastic Optimization (SO) is a classical approach for optimization under uncertainty that typically requires knowledge about the probability distribution of uncertain parameters. As the latter is often unknown, Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO) provides a strong alternative that determines the best guaranteed solution over a set of distributions (ambiguity set). In this work, we present an approach for DRO over time that uses online learning and scenario observations arriving as a data stream to learn more about the uncertainty. Our robust solutions adapt over time and reduce the cost of protection with shrinking ambiguity. For various kinds of ambiguity sets, the robust solutions converge to the SO solution. Our algorithm achieves the optimization and learning goals without solving the DRO problem exactly at any step. We also provide a regret bound for the quality of the online strategy which converges at a rate of $\mathcal{O}(\log T / \sqrt{T})$, where $T$ is the number of iterations. Furthermore, we illustrate the effectiveness of our procedure by numerical experiments on mixed-integer optimization instances from popular benchmark libraries and give practical examples stemming from telecommunications and routing. Our algorithm is able to solve the DRO over time problem significantly faster than standard reformulations.

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arXiv2023

Improving Quantum Computation by Optimized Qubit Routing

In this work we propose a high-quality decomposition approach for qubit routing by swap insertion. This optimization problem arises in the context of compiling quantum algorithms onto specific quantum hardware. Our approach decomposes the routing problem into an allocation subproblem and a set of token swapping problems. This allows us to tackle the allocation part and the token swapping part separately. Extracting the allocation part from the qubit routing model of Nannicini et al. (arXiv:2106.06446), we formulate the allocation subproblem as a binary program. Herein, we employ a cost function that is a lower bound on the overall routing problem objective. We strengthen the linear relaxation by novel valid inequalities. For the token swapping part we develop an exact branch-and-bound algorithm. In this context, we improve upon known lower bounds on the token swapping problem. Furthermore, we enhance an existing approximation algorithm. We present numerical results for the integrated allocation and token swapping problem. Obtained solutions may not be globally optimal due to the decomposition and the usage of an approximation algorithm. However, the solutions are obtained fast and are typically close to optimal. In addition, there is a significant reduction in the number of gates and output circuit depth when compared to state-of-the-art heuristics. Reducing these figures is crucial for minimizing noise when running quantum algorithms on near-term hardware. As a consequence, using the novel decomposition approach leads to compiled algorithms with improved quality. Indeed, when compiled with the novel routing procedure and executed on real hardware, our experimental results for quantum approximate optimization algorithms show an significant increase in solution quality in comparison to standard routing methods.

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arXiv2021

Set characterizations and convex extensions for geometric convex-hull proofs

In the present work, we consider Zuckerberg's method for geometric convex-hull proofs introduced in [Geometric proofs for convex hull defining formulations, Operations Research Letters 44(5), 625-629 (2016)]. It has only been scarcely adopted in the literature so far, despite the great flexibility in designing algorithmic proofs for the completeness of polyhedral descriptions that it offers. We suspect that this is partly due to the rather heavy algebraic framework its original statement entails. This is why we present a much more lightweight and accessible approach to Zuckerberg's proof technique, building on ideas from [Extended formulations for convex hulls of some bilinear functions, Discrete Optimization 36, 100569 (2020)]. We introduce the concept of set characterizations to replace the set-theoretic expressions needed in the original version and to facilitate the construction of algorithmic proof schemes. Along with this, we develop several different strategies to conduct Zuckerberg-type convex-hull proofs. Very importantly, we also show that our concept allows for a significant extension of Zuckerberg's proof technique. While the original method was only applicable to 0/1-polytopes, our extended framework allows to treat arbitrary polyhedra and even general convex sets. We demonstrate this increase in expressive power by characterizing the convex hull of Boolean and bilinear functions over polytopal domains. All results are illustrated with indicative examples to underline the practical usefulness and wide applicability of our framework.

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arXiv2020

The Bipartite Boolean Quadric Polytope with Multiple-Choice Constraints

We consider the bipartite boolean quadric polytope (BQP) with multiple-choice constraints and analyse its combinatorial properties. The well-studied BQP is defined as the convex hull of all quadric incidence vectors over a bipartite graph. In this work, we study the case where there is a partition on one of the two bipartite node sets such that at most one node per subset of the partition can be chosen. This polytope arises, for instance, in pooling problems with fixed proportions of the inputs at each pool. We show that it inherits many characteristics from BQP, among them a wide range of facet classes and operations which are facet preserving. Moreover, we characterize various cases in which the polytope is completely described via the relaxation-linearization inequalities. The special structure induced by the additional multiple-choice constraints also allows for new facet-preserving symmetries as well as lifting operations. Furthermore, it leads to several novel facet classes as well as extensions of these via lifting. We additionally give computationally tractable exact separation algorithms, most of which run in polynomial time. Finally, we demonstrate the strength of both the inherited and the new facet classes in computational experiments on random as well as real-world problem instances. It turns out that in many cases we can close the optimality gap almost completely via cutting planes alone, and, consequently, solution times can be reduced significantly.

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arXiv2020

An Online-Learning Approach to Inverse Optimization

In this paper, we demonstrate how to learn the objective function of a decision-maker while only observing the problem input data and the decision-maker's corresponding decisions over multiple rounds. We present exact algorithms for this online version of inverse optimization which converge at a rate of $ \mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{T}) $ in the number of observations~$T$ and compare their further properties. Especially, they all allow taking decisions which are essentially as good as those of the observed decision-maker already after relatively few iterations, but are suited best for different settings each. Our approach is based on online learning and works for linear objectives over arbitrary feasible sets for which we have a linear optimization oracle. As such, it generalizes previous approaches based on KKT-system decomposition and dualization. We also introduce several generalizations, such as the approximate learning of non-linear objective functions, dynamically changing as well as parameterized objectives and the case of suboptimal observed decisions. When applied to the stochastic offline case, our algorithms are able to give guarantees on the quality of the learned objectives in expectation. Finally, we show the effectiveness and possible applications of our methods in indicative computational experiments.

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