A heavy-ball type curve search method for smooth convexly constrained optimization

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Hauptverfasser: Donnini, Federica, Mansueto, Pierluigi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Donnini, Federica
Mansueto, Pierluigi
author_facet Donnini, Federica
Mansueto, Pierluigi
contents This paper addresses smooth convexly constrained optimization problems where the Euclidean projection onto the feasible set is computationally tractable. Although momentum techniques like Polyak's heavy-ball are known for accelerating optimization algorithms, their use in constrained settings remains limited due to challenges in preserving feasibility and ensuring convergence. We thus propose a heavy-ball-type method that extends to the constrained case a recently introduced curve-search globalization framework. The method attempts a momentum update and performs a curvilinear search to enforce an Armijo-type descent condition: when the momentum step is infeasible or unacceptable, the algorithm smoothly reverts to a feasible descent direction. We prove that the algorithm is well-defined and globally convergent to stationary points; the derivation of these results is nontrivial due to the use of a heavy-ball type direction in a constrained setting, where it may generate infeasible iterates. We discuss the incorporation of further mechanisms into the algorithm, including non-monotone curve search, spectral steplength selection and an adaptive momentum strategy. Numerical experiments on benchmark problems show the method is robust and competitive with the state-of-the-art.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_19032
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A heavy-ball type curve search method for smooth convexly constrained optimization
Donnini, Federica
Mansueto, Pierluigi
Optimization and Control
90C26, 90C30
This paper addresses smooth convexly constrained optimization problems where the Euclidean projection onto the feasible set is computationally tractable. Although momentum techniques like Polyak's heavy-ball are known for accelerating optimization algorithms, their use in constrained settings remains limited due to challenges in preserving feasibility and ensuring convergence. We thus propose a heavy-ball-type method that extends to the constrained case a recently introduced curve-search globalization framework. The method attempts a momentum update and performs a curvilinear search to enforce an Armijo-type descent condition: when the momentum step is infeasible or unacceptable, the algorithm smoothly reverts to a feasible descent direction. We prove that the algorithm is well-defined and globally convergent to stationary points; the derivation of these results is nontrivial due to the use of a heavy-ball type direction in a constrained setting, where it may generate infeasible iterates. We discuss the incorporation of further mechanisms into the algorithm, including non-monotone curve search, spectral steplength selection and an adaptive momentum strategy. Numerical experiments on benchmark problems show the method is robust and competitive with the state-of-the-art.
title A heavy-ball type curve search method for smooth convexly constrained optimization
topic Optimization and Control
90C26, 90C30
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.19032