Bücher der Reihe Series On Optimization And Its Applications

Many important problems in global optimization, algebra, probability and statistics, applied mathematics, control theory, and financial mathematics can be modeled as a particular instance of the Generalized Moment Problem (GMP). This book introduces a general methodology to solve the GMP when its data are polynomials and basic semi-algebraic sets.

In full generality, minimizing a polynomial function over a closed semi-algebraic set requires complex mathematical equations. This book explains recent developments from singularity theory and semi-algebraic geometry for studying polynomial optimization problems. Classes of generic problems are defined in a simple and elegant manner by using only the two basic (and relatively simple) notions of Newton polyhedron and non-degeneracy conditions associated with a given polynomial optimization problem. These conditions are well known in singularity theory, however, they are rarely considered within the optimization community.Explanations focus on critical points and tangencies of polynomial optimization, H├╢lderian error bounds for polynomial systems, Frank-Wolfe-type theorem for polynomial programs and well posedness in polynomial optimization. It then goes on to look at optimization for the different types of polynomials. Through this text graduate students, PhD students and researchers of mathematics will be provided with the knowledge necessary to use semi-algebraic geometry in optimization.

The Moment-SOS hierarchy is a powerful methodology that is used to solve the Generalized Moment Problem (GMP) where the list of applications in various areas of Science and Engineering is almost endless. Initially designed for solving polynomial optimization problems (the simplest example of the GMP), it applies to solving any instance of the GMP whose description only involves semi-algebraic functions and sets. It consists of solving a sequence (a hierarchy) of convex relaxations of the initial problem, and each convex relaxation is a semidefinite program whose size increases in the hierarchy.The goal of this book is to describe in a unified and detailed manner how this methodology applies to solving various problems in different areas ranging from Optimization, Probability, Statistics, Signal Processing, Computational Geometry, Control, Optimal Control and Analysis of a certain class of nonlinear PDEs. For each application, this unconventional methodology differs from traditional approaches and provides an unusual viewpoint. Each chapter is devoted to a particular application, where the methodology is thoroughly described and illustrated on some appropriate examples.The exposition is kept at an appropriate level of detail to aid the different levels of readers not necessarily familiar with these tools, to better know and understand this methodology.