arXiv subjects

Steven Diamond

Publications and source records attributed to Steven Diamond.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Disciplined Multi-Convex Programming

A multi-convex optimization problem is one in which the variables can be partitioned into sets over which the problem is convex when the other variables are fixed. Multi-convex problems are generally solved approximately using variations on alternating or cyclic minimization. Multi-convex problems arise in many applications, such as nonnegative matrix factorization, generalized low rank models, and structured control synthesis, to name just a few. In most applications to date the multi-convexity is simple to verify by hand. In this paper we study the automatic detection and verification of multi-convexity using the ideas of disciplined convex programming. We describe an implementation of our proposed method that detects and verifies multi-convexity, and then invokes one of the general solution methods.

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arXiv2016

CVXPY: A Python-Embedded Modeling Language for Convex Optimization

CVXPY is a domain-specific language for convex optimization embedded in Python. It allows the user to express convex optimization problems in a natural syntax that follows the math, rather than in the restrictive standard form required by solvers. CVXPY makes it easy to combine convex optimization with high-level features of Python such as parallelism and object-oriented design. CVXPY is available at http://www.cvxpy.org/ under the GPL license, along with documentation and examples.

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arXiv2016

Disciplined Convex-Concave Programming

In this paper we introduce disciplined convex-concave programming (DCCP), which combines the ideas of disciplined convex programming (DCP) with convex-concave programming (CCP). Convex-concave programming is an organized heuristic for solving nonconvex problems that involve objective and constraint functions that are a sum of a convex and a concave term. DCP is a structured way to define convex optimization problems, based on a family of basic convex and concave functions and a few rules for combining them. Problems expressed using DCP can be automatically converted to standard form and solved by a generic solver; widely used implementations include YALMIP, CVX, CVXPY, and Convex.jl. In this paper we propose a framework that combines the two ideas, and includes two improvements over previously published work on convex-concave programming, specifically the handling of domains of the functions, and the issue of nondifferentiability on the boundary of the domains. We describe a Python implementation called DCCP, which extends CVXPY, and give examples.

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arXiv2016

Stochastic Matrix-Free Equilibration

We present a novel method for approximately equilibrating a matrix $A \in {\bf R}^{m \times n}$ using only multiplication by $A$ and $A^T$. Our method is based on convex optimization and projected stochastic gradient descent, using an unbiased estimate of a gradient obtained by a randomized method. Our method provably converges in expectation with an $O(1/t)$ convergence rate and empirically gets good results with a small number of iterations. We show how the method can be applied as a preconditioner for matrix-free iterative algorithms such as LSQR and Chambolle-Cremers-Pock, substantially reducing the iterations required to reach a given level of precision. We also derive a novel connection between equilibration and condition number, showing that equilibration minimizes an upper bound on the condition number over all choices of row and column scalings.

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arXiv2016

A General System for Heuristic Solution of Convex Problems over Nonconvex Sets

We describe general heuristics to approximately solve a wide variety of problems with convex objective and decision variables from a nonconvex set. The heuristics, which employ convex relaxations, convex restrictions, local neighbor search methods, and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), require the solution of a modest number of convex problems, and are meant to apply to general problems, without much tuning. We describe an implementation of these methods in a package called NCVX, as an extension of CVXPY, a Python package for formulating and solving convex optimization problems. We study several examples of well known nonconvex problems, and show that our general purpose heuristics are effective in finding approximate solutions to a wide variety of problems.

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arXiv2015

Matrix-Free Convex Optimization Modeling

We introduce a convex optimization modeling framework that transforms a convex optimization problem expressed in a form natural and convenient for the user into an equivalent cone program in a way that preserves fast linear transforms in the original problem. By representing linear functions in the transformation process not as matrices, but as graphs that encode composition of linear operators, we arrive at a matrix-free cone program, i.e., one whose data matrix is represented by a linear operator and its adjoint. This cone program can then be solved by a matrix-free cone solver. By combining the matrix-free modeling framework and cone solver, we obtain a general method for efficiently solving convex optimization problems involving fast linear transforms.

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arXiv2014

Convex Optimization in Julia

This paper describes Convex, a convex optimization modeling framework in Julia. Convex translates problems from a user-friendly functional language into an abstract syntax tree describing the problem. This concise representation of the global structure of the problem allows Convex to infer whether the problem complies with the rules of disciplined convex programming (DCP), and to pass the problem to a suitable solver. These operations are carried out in Julia using multiple dispatch, which dramatically reduces the time required to verify DCP compliance and to parse a problem into conic form. Convex then automatically chooses an appropriate backend solver to solve the conic form problem.

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