Unified approach to Bayesian inference with guarantees on covariance matrices.
problem Approximate Bayesian inference with PSD guarantees.
method Bayes-Newton methods extending Newton's method for optimisation.
result Novel algorithms with PSD covariance matrices.
This thesis disentangles Gauss-Newton and variational approximations in Bayesian deep learning.
problem Understanding the interplay between the Gauss-Newton method and variational approximations in Bayesian deep learning.
method Analysis of the Gauss-Newton method and Laplace/Gaussian variational approximations for neural networks.
result The combination of the Gauss-Newton method with approximate inference can be cast as inference in a linear or Gaussian process model.
New algorithm improves convergence of gradient boosting trees.
problem Global convergence of Newton boosting in tabular machine learning.
method Introduces Gradient Regularized Newton Descent for GBDTs, proving linear convergence for smooth, strongly convex losses and O(k21) rate for general convex losses. result Achieves globally convergent second-order GBDT algorithm with rate matching first-order boosting.
Boosting algorithms are frequently used in applied data science and in research. To date, the distinction between boosting with either gradient descent or second-order Newton updates is often not made in both applied and methodological research, and it is thus implicitly assumed that the difference is irrelevant. The g…
SVRN accelerates Newton methods by reducing variance and improving performance.
problem Improving the efficiency of Newton methods for large-scale optimization problems.
method Stochastic Variance-Reduced Newton (SVRN) algorithm that accelerates Subsampled Newton and Iterative Hessian Sketch algorithms.
result SVRN accelerates Newton methods by reducing the number of passes over the data, achieving a significant improvement in performance.
A new hybrid Newton algorithm improves convergence in logistic regression.
problem Solving large-scale binary classification problems efficiently.
method Proposes a hybrid stochastic Newton algorithm with two weighted components in the Hessian matrix estimation.
result Proves almost sure convergence to the true parameter of logistic regression.
A general class of Newton algorithms on Graßmann and Lagrange-Graßmann manifolds is introduced, that depends on an arbitrary pair of local coordinates. Local quadratic convergence of the algorithm is shown under a suitable condition on the choice of coordinate systems. Our result extends and unifies previous convergenc…
Approximate Newton methods are a standard optimization tool which aim to maintain the benefits of Newton's method, such as a fast rate of convergence, whilst alleviating its drawbacks, such as computationally expensive calculation or estimation of the inverse Hessian. In this work we investigate approximate Newton meth…
Four decades after their invention, quasi-Newton methods are still state of the art in unconstrained numerical optimization. Although not usually interpreted thus, these are learning algorithms that fit a local quadratic approximation to the objective function. We show that many, including the most popular, quasi-Newto…
New quasi-Newton method guarantees global superlinear convergence.
problem Global convergence and superlinear convergence of quasi-Newton methods.
method Hybrid proximal extragradient method with online learning for Hessian approximation.
result First globally convergent quasi-Newton method with explicit superlinear convergence rate.
Paper proposes an online covariance estimator for sketched Newton methods.
problem Estimating the limiting covariance matrix of sketched Newton methods.
method Proposes a fully online covariance matrix estimator from Newton iterates.
result Establishes the consistency and convergence rate of the proposed estimator.
Recent studies incorporate Nesterov's accelerated gradient method for the acceleration of gradient based training. The Nesterov's Accelerated Quasi-Newton (NAQ) method has shown to drastically improve the convergence speed compared to the conventional quasi-Newton method. This paper implements NAQ for non-convex optimi…
A new method solves distributed optimization problems over networks.
problem Solving optimization problems over networks with local cost functions and limited communication.
method Distributed semismooth Newton based augmented Lagrangian method.
result The method efficiently solves distributed optimization problems over networks.
In [19], a general, inexact, efficient proximal quasi-Newton algorithm for composite optimization problems has been proposed and a sublinear global convergence rate has been established. In this paper, we analyze the convergence properties of this method, both in the exact and inexact setting, in the case when the obje…
We propose a trust region method for policy optimization that employs Quasi-Newton approximation for the Hessian, called Quasi-Newton Trust Region Policy Optimization QNTRPO. Gradient descent is the de facto algorithm for reinforcement learning tasks with continuous controls. The algorithm has achieved state-of-the-art…
New algorithms solve nonconvex-nonconcave minimax optimization problems.
problem Solving minimax optimization problems in machine learning.
method Two novel Newton-type algorithms for nonconvex-nonconcave minimax optimization.
result Proved local convergence at strict local minimax points.
It has recently been shown that many of the existing quasi-Newton algorithms can be formulated as learning algorithms, capable of learning local models of the cost functions. Importantly, this understanding allows us to safely start assembling probabilistic Newton-type algorithms, applicable in situations where we only…
Paper develops a robust PP distributed quasi-Newton estimation for Byzantine machines.
problem Byzantine machines in distributed computing under Privacy Protection constraints.
method Robust PP distributed quasi-Newton estimation method that transmits only five vectors.
result Reduces privacy budgeting and transmission cost compared to gradient descent and Newton iteration.
EGN optimizes deep neural networks with exact Gauss-Newton for large-scale problems.
problem Training deep neural networks efficiently and accurately.
method Stochastic second-order optimization using low-rank linear algebra and matrix factorization.
result Converges to stationary points of the objective function under mild assumptions.
SNS accelerates Sinkhorn algorithm with sparse Newton iterations.
problem Slow runtime of Sinkhorn algorithm for optimal transport.
method Early stopping and Newton-type subroutine for matrix scaling steps.
result SNS converges orders of magnitude faster than Sinkhorn.
New method uses robust estimators for Newton's method in empirical risk minimization.
problem Improving robustness in empirical risk minimization.
method Robust Newton's method with gradient and Hessian replaced by robust estimators.
result Faster convergence rates in high-dimensional settings.
We propose a DC proximal Newton algorithm for solving nonconvex regularized sparse learning problems in high dimensions. Our proposed algorithm integrates the proximal Newton algorithm with multi-stage convex relaxation based on the difference of convex (DC) programming, and enjoys both strong computational and statist…
Newton-LESS sparsifies Gaussian sketching for faster optimization.
problem Computing the Hessian matrix in optimization is computationally expensive.
method Uses a sparsified version of a dense Gaussian sketching matrix.
result Achieves nearly the same convergence rate as dense Gaussian embeddings without the computational cost.
Improved bounds for Black-Scholes volatility lead to faster root-finding.
problem Finding accurate implied volatility for Black-Scholes model.
method Systematic use of option delta to derive tighter bounds, proposing a Newton-Raphson algorithm.
result Proposed algorithm converges rapidly for all price ranges, especially useful for extreme option prices.
This paper analyzes adaptive gradient algorithms for better performance in ill-conditioned problems.
problem Poor performance of standard stochastic gradient algorithms in ill-conditioned problems.
method Non-asymptotic analysis of adaptive gradient algorithms (Adagrad and Stochastic Newton) for strongly convex objectives.
result Theoretical analysis and adaptation to practical applications like linear regression and regularized GLM.
In this work, we present a globalized stochastic semismooth Newton method for solving stochastic optimization problems involving smooth nonconvex and nonsmooth convex terms in the objective function. We assume that only noisy gradient and Hessian information of the smooth part of the objective function is available via…
We propose an algorithm, semismooth Newton coordinate descent (SNCD), for the elastic-net penalized Huber loss regression and quantile regression in high dimensional settings. Unlike existing coordinate descent type algorithms, the SNCD updates each regression coefficient and its corresponding subgradient simultaneousl…
A new algorithm reduces communication rounds for distributed convex optimization.
problem Efficiently solving convex optimization problems in distributed systems.
method Proposes a stochastic Newton algorithm for homogeneous distributed stochastic convex optimization.
result Reduces the number and frequency of communication rounds compared to existing methods.
We propose a randomized second-order method for optimization known as the Newton Sketch: it is based on performing an approximate Newton step using a randomly projected or sub-sampled Hessian. For self-concordant functions, we prove that the algorithm has super-linear convergence with exponentially high probability, wi…
A new method for faster optimization on statistical manifolds.
problem Slow convergence of first-order methods in manifold optimization.
method Dual Riemannian Newton method on manifolds with dual connections.
result Local quadratic convergence of the dual Riemannian Newton method.
Develops a new SPP algorithm with variance reduction for weakly convex optimization.
problem Weakly convex, composite optimization problems.
method Inexact semismooth Newton framework with variance reduction for stochastic proximal point updates.
result Establishes convergence results for the proposed algorithm.
NOHD optimizes multi-agent systems by decomposing dynamics into irrotational and solenoidal components.
problem Non-stationarity and conflicting interests in multi-agent learning problems.
method NOHD (Newton Optimization on Helmholtz Decomposition) decomposes system dynamics into irrotational and solenoidal components.
result NOHD ensures quadratic convergence in purely irrotational and solenoidal systems and attracts to stable fixed points in general multi-agent systems.
Transformers can approximate Newton's method for logistic regression.
problem Implementing higher order optimization methods in Transformers.
method Linear attention Transformers with ReLU layers approximating second order optimization algorithms.
result Transformers can implement a single step of Newton's iteration for matrix inversion.
Paper develops efficient methods for estimating Hessian inverses in stochastic optimization.
problem Estimating the inverse Hessian for convex function minimization.
method Robbins-Monro procedure for recursive estimation of the inverse Hessian.
result Develops universal stochastic Newton methods with improved efficiency.
In this paper we present a novel quasi-Newton algorithm for use in stochastic optimisation. Quasi-Newton methods have had an enormous impact on deterministic optimisation problems because they afford rapid convergence and computationally attractive algorithms. In essence, this is achieved by learning the second-order (…
New algorithmic view of ℓ2 regularization using ODEs and path-following methods.
problem Optimizing convex loss functions with ℓ2 regularization.
method Established an equivalence between ℓ2-regularized solution paths and ODEs, proposing path-following algorithms based on homotopy methods and numerical ODE solvers.
result The solution path can be viewed as a hybrid of gradient descent and Newton method, providing novel schemes to choose grid points and reducing computational cost.
A new Bayesian filtering method speeds up stochastic Newton optimization.
problem Minimizing log-convex functions using stochastic methods.
method Contextualizes the problem as Bayesian inference, applying Bayesian filtering to update estimates.
result Establishes conditions for diminishing effect of older observations, akin to momentum.
Recently algorithms incorporating second order curvature information have become popular in training neural networks. The Nesterov's Accelerated Quasi-Newton (NAQ) method has shown to effectively accelerate the BFGS quasi-Newton method by incorporating the momentum term and Nesterov's accelerated gradient vector. A sto…
New Q-Newton's method avoids saddle points and converges quadratically.
problem Optimizing functions with saddle points and ensuring convergence guarantees.
method Modified New Q-Newton's method with Backtracking line search.
result Theorem for Morse functions: quadratic convergence to local minima.
A new EM gradient algorithm for mixture models with skewed components.
problem Fitting mixture models with skewed components derived from the Manly transformation.
method Proposes an alternative EM gradient algorithm using Newton's method for better parameter updates.
result Shows improved convergence and parameter estimation compared to the Nelder-Mead optimization.
Novel algorithm accelerates PnP methods for image deblurring and super-resolution.
problem Efficiently solving inverse problems and imaging with provable convergence guarantees.
method Incorporates quasi-Newton steps into provable PnP framework based on proximal denoisers.
result 2--8x faster convergence compared to other provable PnP methods with similar quality.
HSNLD solves robust Hankel recovery efficiently and robustly.
problem Robust Hankel recovery of sparse outliers and missing entries.
method Hankel Structured Newton-Like Descent (HSNLD) algorithm.
result HSNLD achieves linear convergence independent of the condition number.
Efficient algorithms compute lambda quantiles for robust portfolio optimization.
problem Computing lambda quantiles efficiently and robustly.
method Λ-Newton-Bis algorithm combining Newton's method and bisection, interval analysis for multiple roots.
result Demonstrated computational efficiency and practical relevance in portfolio optimization.
A new optimisation method efficiently scales Hessian-vector products for neural networks.
problem Challenges in applying second-order quasi-Newton methods due to large Hessian and non-convexity.
method Proposes an optimisation algorithm that asymptotically uses the exact inverse Hessian with modified eigenvalues.
result Demonstrates scalability and comparable performance to other optimisation methods in neural networks.
New algorithm improves convergence of Bayesian inference.
problem Efficient sampling from complex distributions.
method Stochastic Stein Variational Newton method (sSVN).
result sSVN converges faster and more accurately than SVGD.
The paper optimizes policies constrained to Schur stabilizing controllers using a Newton-type algorithm.
problem Optimizing policies under linear constraints in control systems.
method Newton-type algorithm on a manifold of Schur stabilizing controllers with a Riemannian metric.
result Local convergence guarantees for the Newton-type algorithm without relying on exponential mapping or retractions.
In this paper, we develop a variant of the well-known Gauss-Newton (GN) method to solve a class of nonconvex optimization problems involving low-rank matrix variables. As opposed to the standard GN method, our algorithm allows one to handle general smooth convex objective function. We show, under mild conditions, that …
This paper introduces online algorithms to estimate robust geometric median in large data streams.
problem Detecting outliers in large data sets using robust statistical measures.
method Online stochastic Newton methods for estimating the geometric median.
result Rates of convergence for online estimation of the geometric median.