Margherita Porcelli

TRESNEI, a Matlab trust-region solver for systems of nonlinear equalities and inequalities

The Matlab implementation of a trust-region Gauss-Newton method for bound-constrained nonlinear least-squares problems is presented. The solver, called TRESNEI, is adequate for zero and small-residual problems and handles the solution of nonlinear systems of equalities and inequalities. The structure and the usage of the solver are described and an extensive numerical comparison with functions from the Matlab Optimization Toolbox is carried out.

A reduced Newton method for constrained linear least-squares problems

We propose an iterative method that solves constrained linear least-squares problems by formulating them as nonlinear systems of equations and applying the Newton scheme. The method reduces the size of the linear system to be solved at each iteration by considering only a subset of the unknown variables. Hence the linear system can be solved more efficiently. We prove that the method is locally quadratic convergent. Applications to image deblurring problems show that our method gives better restored images than those obtained by projecting or scaling the solution into the dynamic range.

On the convergence of an inexact Gauss-Newton trust-region method for nonlinear least-squares problems with simple bounds

We introduce an inexact Gauss–Newton trust-region method for solving bound-constrained nonlinear least-squares problems where, at each iteration, a trust-region subproblem is approximately solved by the Conjugate Gradient method. Provided a suitable control on the accuracy to which we attempt to solve the subproblems, we prove that the method has global and asymptotic fast convergence properties. Some numerical illustration is also presented.

Updating the regularization parameter in the adaptive cubic regularization algorithm

The adaptive cubic regularization method (Cartis et al. in Math. Program. Ser. A 127(2):245–295, 2011; Math. Program. Ser. A. 130(2):295–319, 2011) has been recently proposed for solving unconstrained minimization problems. At each iteration of this method, the objective function is replaced by a cubic approximation which comprises an adaptive regularization parameter whose role is related to the local Lipschitz constant of the objective’s Hessian. We present new updating strategies for this parameter based on interpolation techniques, which improve the overall numerical performance of the algorithm. Numerical experiments on large nonlinear least-squares problems are provided.

A Gauss-Newton method for solving bound-constrained underdetermined nonlinear systems

An iterative method for solving bound-constrained underdetermined nonlinear systems is presented. The procedure consists of a Gauss--Newton method embedded into a trust–region strategy. Global and fast local convergence results are established. A specific implementation of the method is given along with its application to nonlinear systems of equalities and inequalities.

Preconditioning of Active-Set Newton Methods for PDE-constrained Optimal Control Problems

We address the problem of preconditioning a sequence of saddle point linear systems arising in the solution of PDE-constrained optimal control problems via active-set Newton methods, with control and (regularized) state constraints. We present two new preconditioners based on a full block matrix factorization of the Schur complement of the Jacobian matrices, where the active-set blocks are merged into the constraint blocks. We discuss the robustness of the new preconditioners with respect to the parameters of the continuous and discrete problems. Numerical experiments on 3D problems are presented, including comparisons with existing approaches based on preconditioned conjugate gradients in a nonstandard inner product.

New updates of incomplete LU factorizations and applications to large nonlinear systems

In this paper, we address the problem of preconditioning sequences of large sparse indefinite systems of linear equations and present two new strategies to construct approximate updates of factorized preconditioners. Both updates are based on the availability of an incomplete factorization for one matrix of the sequence and differ in the approximation of the so-called ideal update. For a general treatment, an incomplete LU (ILU) factorization is considered, but the proposed approaches apply to incomplete factorizations of symmetric matrices as well. The first strategy is an approximate diagonal update of the ILU factorization; the second strategy relies on banded approximations of the factors in the ideal update. The efficiency and reliability of the proposed preconditioners are shown in the solution of nonlinear systems of equations by preconditioned Newton–Krylov methods. Nearly matrix-free implementations of the updating strategy are provided, and numerical experiments are carried out on application problems.

Quasi-Newton methods for constrained nonlinear systems: complexity analysis and applications

We address the solution of constrained nonlinear systems by new linesearch quasi-Newton methods. These methods are based on a proper use of the projection map onto the convex constraint set and on a derivative-free and nonmonotone linesearch strategy. The convergence properties of the proposed methods are presented along with a worst-case iteration complexity bound. Several implementations of the proposed scheme are discussed and validated on bound-constrained problems including gas distribution network models. The results reported show that the new methods are very efficient and competitive with an existing affine-scaling procedure.

BFO, A Trainable Derivative-free Brute Force Optimizer for Nonlinear Bound-constrained Optimization and Equilibrium Computations with Continuous and Discrete Variables

A direct-search derivative-free Matlab optimizer for bound-constrained problems is described, whose remarkable features are its ability to handle a mix of continuous and discrete variables, a versatile interface as well as a novel self-training option. Its performance compares favorably with that of NOMAD (Nonsmooth Optimization by Mesh Adaptive Direct Search), a well-known derivative-free optimization package. It is also applicable to multilevel equilibrium- or constrained-type problems. Its easy-to-use interface provides a number of user-oriented features, such as checkpointing and restart, variable scaling, and early termination tools.

Approximate norm descent methods for constrained nonlinear systems

We address the solution of convex-constrained nonlinear systems of equations where the Jacobian matrix is unavailable or its computation/storage is burdensome. In order to efficiently solve such problems, we propose a new class of algorithms which are “derivativefree” both in the computation of the search direction and in the selection of the steplength. Search directions comprise the residuals and Quasi-Newton directions while the steplength is determined by using a new linesearch strategy based on a nonmonotone approximate norm descent property of the merit function. We provide a theoretical analysis of the proposed algorithm and we discuss several conditions ensuring convergence to a solution of the constrained nonlinear system. Finally, we illustrate its numerical behaviour also in comparison with existing approaches.