Non-Euclidean dual gradient ascent for entropically regularized linear and semidefinite programming

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Cai, Yuhang, Lindsey, Michael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Cai, Yuhang
Lindsey, Michael
author_facet Cai, Yuhang
Lindsey, Michael
contents We present an optimization framework that exhibits dimension-independent convergence on a broad class of semidefinite programs (SDPs). Our approach first regularizes the primal problem with the von Neumann entropy, then solve the regularized problem using dual gradient ascent with respect to a problem-adapted norm. In particular, we show that the dual gradient norm converges to zero at a rate independent of the ambient dimension and, via rounding arguments, construct primal-feasible solutions in certain special cases. We also derive explicit convergence rates for the objective. In order to achieve optimal computational scaling, we must accommodate the use of stochastic gradients constructed via randomized trace estimators. Throughout we illustrate the generality of our framework via three important special cases -- the Goemans-Williamson SDP relaxation of the Max-Cut problem, the optimal transport linear program, and several SDP relaxations of the permutation synchronization problem. Numerical experiments confirm that our methods achieve dimension-independent convergence in practice.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_09711
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-Euclidean dual gradient ascent for entropically regularized linear and semidefinite programming
Cai, Yuhang
Lindsey, Michael
Optimization and Control
Numerical Analysis
We present an optimization framework that exhibits dimension-independent convergence on a broad class of semidefinite programs (SDPs). Our approach first regularizes the primal problem with the von Neumann entropy, then solve the regularized problem using dual gradient ascent with respect to a problem-adapted norm. In particular, we show that the dual gradient norm converges to zero at a rate independent of the ambient dimension and, via rounding arguments, construct primal-feasible solutions in certain special cases. We also derive explicit convergence rates for the objective. In order to achieve optimal computational scaling, we must accommodate the use of stochastic gradients constructed via randomized trace estimators. Throughout we illustrate the generality of our framework via three important special cases -- the Goemans-Williamson SDP relaxation of the Max-Cut problem, the optimal transport linear program, and several SDP relaxations of the permutation synchronization problem. Numerical experiments confirm that our methods achieve dimension-independent convergence in practice.
title Non-Euclidean dual gradient ascent for entropically regularized linear and semidefinite programming
topic Optimization and Control
Numerical Analysis
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.09711