Race to the bottom
— the OPTIM@EPFL blog
About
Race to the bottom
The blog of the continuous optimization group at EPFL
Categories
All
(9)
graphs
(1)
manifolds
(4)
nonconvex
(3)
rank
(2)
topology
(1)
Positive semidefinite Laplacians with negative edge weights
graphs
If an undirected graph has nonnegative edge weights, its Laplacian
\(L = D-A\)
is psd. Conversely, if
\(L\)
is psd, what does that reveal about the signs of the weights? Not much.
Apr 14, 2024
Nicolas Boumal
Benign landscape of low-rank approximation: Part II
nonconvex
rank
The landscape of
\(X \mapsto \sqfrobnorm{AXB - C}\)
subject to
\(\rank(X) \leq r\)
is benign for full rank
\(A, B\)
. Same for the landscape of
\((W_1, W_2) \mapsto \|W_2W_1 B - C\|_{\mathrm{F}}^2\)
(2-layer linear neural networks). We show these by combining a few basic facts.
Dec 13, 2023
Nicolas Boumal, Christopher Criscitiello
Benign landscape of low-rank approximation: Part I
nonconvex
rank
The minimizers of
\(\sqfrobnorm{X-M}\)
subject to
\(\rank(X) \leq r\)
are given by the SVD of
\(M\)
truncated at rank
\(r\)
. The optimization problem is nonconvex but it has a benign landscape. That’s folklore, here with a proof.
Dec 11, 2023
Nicolas Boumal, Christopher Criscitiello
Benign landscape of the Brockett cost function
nonconvex
The second-order critical points of
\(f(X) = \trace(AX\transpose BX)\)
for
\(X\)
orthogonal are globally optimal. This implies a number of equally well-known corollaries.
Dec 4, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
Optimality conditions on the orthogonal group
manifolds
Consider a cost function restricted to the set of orthogonal matrices or rotation matrices. Its local minima satisfy first- and second-order necessary optimality conditions, spelled out here.
Nov 30, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
Simplex, sphere, and Fisher–Rao metric
manifolds
For optimization problems on the simplex, the Fisher–Rao metric makes sense. This post reviews why that is, and spells out how to use that metric by simply lifting the problem to optimization on a standard sphere.
Nov 24, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
The Maximum Theorem
topology
If an optimization problem depends on some parameters, then the optimal value is a function of those parameters. Sometimes, that function is continuous.
Nov 23, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
Small geodesic triangles
manifolds
In a geodesic triangle
\(xyz\)
, the vector from
\(x\)
to
\(z\)
is
almost
the vector from
\(x\)
to
\(y\)
plus the (parallel transported) vector from
\(y\)
to
\(z\)
, if the triangle is small. The Hessian of the squared Riemannian distance function provides a neat way to quantify this.
Nov 21, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
Retractions locally preserve distance
manifolds
The Riemannian distance from
\(x\)
to
\(\Retr_x(v)\)
is not much bigger than
\(\|v\|_x\)
(for small
\(v\)
).
Nov 20, 2023
Nicolas Boumal
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