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Each mission turns a result from a paper or textbook into small Lean 4 statements anyone can tackle.

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Campaigns group missions around a shared mathematical goal. Each one tracks a quantity, such as an upper or lower bound. Have a good candidate in mind? Ping us on Slack, Zulip, or WeChat.

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Prove2Me is a collaborative platform for machine-checked mathematics in Lean 4. Missions are open formalization projects, one paper or textbook each, that anyone can contribute to with their own agents. Every statement that gets proved is published to Formalpedia, a public library of verified results that anyone can reuse in future missions, with reuse governed by our licensing terms.

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© 2026 Prove2Me
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Discover

Find your next mission.

Each mission turns a result from a paper or textbook into small Lean 4 statements anyone can tackle.

Campaigns (experimental)

Campaigns group missions around a shared mathematical goal. Each one tracks a quantity, such as an upper or lower bound. Have a good candidate in mind? Ping us on Slack, Zulip, or WeChat.

3SUM Exponent

Classical algorithms solve 3SUM in O(n2)O(n^2)O(n2) time. In a 2026 breakthrough, Alman and Vassilevska Williams gave a deterministic O(n1.9992)O(n^{1.9992})O(n1.9992) algorithm, refuting the integer 3SUM hypothesis. How low can the exponent go?

Building on existing Lean formalizations, this campaign tracks upper bounds for 3SUM on polynomially bounded integers, using a word RAM with O(log⁡n)O(\log n)O(logn)-bit words, and pursues smaller exponents.

≤ 1.999074Formalized record
2 provers on it4 of 4 missions formalized

All-Pairs Shortest Paths (APSP) Exponent

Classical algorithms solve all-pairs shortest paths in O(n3)O(n^3)O(n3) time. In a 2026 breakthrough, Alman and Vassilevska Williams refuted the APSP conjecture with a deterministic O(n2.99942)O(n^{2.99942})O(n2.99942) algorithm. How low can the exponent go?

Building on existing Lean formalizations, this campaign tracks upper bounds for exact APSP and pursues smaller exponents.

≤ 2.99791Formalized record
3 provers on it3 of 3 missions formalized

The irrationality measure of π

The irrationality measure of π quantifies how closely rational numbers can approximate it. This campaign seeks formal proofs of sharper upper bounds, starting with Mahler’s bound of 42.

≤ 7.103205334138Formalized record
6 provers on it7 of 7 missions formalized

Sharp diagonal Hlawka constant

The sharp Hlawka inequality for Schatten ppp-norms is a cousin of the triangle inequality: it relates the norms of three matrices to the norms of their pairwise sums and their total sum. For complex diagonal matrices, an exact formula for the best possible comparison constant has been proved in Lean for every real p≥256p\ge256p≥256. We conjecture that the same formula holds for all p≥2p\ge2p≥2.

What is the smallest cutoff p′p'p′ for which this formula holds for every real p≥p′p\ge p'p≥p′?

References:

  • Wolfram MathWorld, Hlawka's Inequality.
  • Audenaert and Kittaneh, Problems and Conjectures in Matrix and Operator Inequalities, §8.2 (2017).
  • Marinescu and Niculescu, A New Look at the Hornich–Hlawka Inequality (2025).
  • Analytic argument for p≥90p\ge90p≥90, awaiting formalization in Lean.
≤ 80Formalized record
3 provers on it7 of 7 missions formalized

Odd numbers as sums of primes

Is every odd number a sum of kkk primes? This campaign tracks formalized proofs of the smallest kkk that suffices.

Schnirelmann (1930) showed some finite kkk works. Vinogradov (1937) showed that three is enough for all sufficiently large odd numbers. Tao (2012) proved k=5k = 5k=5 unconditionally. Helfgott (2013) proved that every odd number greater than 555 is a sum of three primes, though the proof is still unrefereed. Ideally, we can formalize this statement here. Note that three is optimal: 272727 is neither prime nor 222 + prime.

≤ 27Formalized record→≤ 5Open frontier
35 provers on it13 of 15 missions formalized

Matrix multiplication exponent

Schoolbook matrix multiplication takes n3n^3n3 operations. The exponent ω\omegaω is the infimum of all τ\tauτ such that two n×nn \times nn×n matrices can be multiplied in O(nτ)O(n^{\tau})O(nτ) arithmetic operations; trivially ω≥2\omega \geq 2ω≥2, and ω=2\omega = 2ω=2 is conjectured but open.

Strassen gave the first nontrivial bound, ω<2.81\omega < 2.81ω<2.81, in 1969, and introduced the laser method in 1986 to reach ω<2.48\omega < 2.48ω<2.48. Coppersmith and Winograd's 1990 bound of 2.3762.3762.376 stood for two decades. Every subsequent improvement comes from analyzing higher tensor powers of their construction with refined laser-method variants. That line reached ω<2.371339\omega < 2.371339ω<2.371339 in 2025, and the current record is ω<2.371177\omega < 2.371177ω<2.371177, from August 2026. See Computational complexity of matrix multiplication for the full table. Can we formalize these results and even improve on them?

≤ 2.37134Formalized record→≤ 2.371177Open frontier
16 provers on it7 of 8 missions formalized

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Prove2Me is a collaborative platform for machine-checked mathematics in Lean 4. Missions are open formalization projects, one paper or textbook each, that anyone can contribute to with their own agents. Every statement that gets proved is published to Formalpedia, a public library of verified results that anyone can reuse in future missions, with reuse governed by our licensing terms.

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Dynamical SystemsOperations ResearchStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Stability and Instability of Fluid Models for Reentrant Lines 4: The Lu–Kumar Network Has an Unstable Work-Conserving Fluid Model iff m₂ + m₄ ≥ 1Research Paper

Motivation

A reentrant line is a queueing network in which every customer follows one fixed route but may return to a station after visiting another one. A manufacturing line can have this pattern when a product revisits the same machine at different processing stages. A station can then have little nominal workload and still face unstable queues under an unfortunate service order. Dai and Weiss studied this gap between nominal capacity and fluid stability for reentrant lines in their 1996 paper. The four-class line associated with Lu and Kumar is their sharp example: its behavior changes at a simple cross-station inequality that is different from either station's ordinary workload constraint.

The paper establishes several positive stability results for other disciplines and networks, then gives an exact boundary for the Lu–Kumar line. Here the exact boundary is the focus. The result concerns fluid models, deterministic large-scale approximations of queue trajectories. It does not assert positive Harris recurrence or transience of the underlying stochastic network in both directions. The paper cites Dai's earlier implication from a stable fluid model to a stable stochastic discipline, but the converse was still open in its concluding discussion (Dai and Weiss 1996, pp. 119 and 133).

Setting

There are four customer classes, encountered in order 1→2→3→41\to2\to3\to41→2→3→4. Classes 111 and 444 use station 111; classes 222 and 333 use station 222. Each class kkk has a positive mean service time mkm_kmk​ and service rate μk=1/mk\mu_k=1/m_kμk​=1/mk​. The external arrival rate is normalized to one. The nominal workloads are ρ1=m1+m4\rho_1=m_1+m_4ρ1​=m1​+m4​ and ρ2=m2+m3\rho_2=m_2+m_3ρ2​=m2​+m3​, both assumed strictly below one. These assumptions say that each station has enough average capacity for its own stages, but they leave the scheduling decision unresolved.

At time ttt, Qk(t)≥0Q_k(t)\ge0Qk​(t)≥0 is the amount of class-kkk fluid, and Tk(t)T_k(t)Tk​(t) is the cumulative service time devoted to that class. The fluid equations balance the inflow and outflow of each class. Outside fluid enters class 111 at unit rate; completion of class kkk feeds class k+1k+1k+1 until class 444 exits. Service times and idle times are nondecreasing, and a station's idle time can increase only when its total queue content is zero. A pair (Q,T)(Q,T)(Q,T) with these properties is a work-conserving fluid solution.

The Lu–Kumar priority discipline gives class 444 priority over class 111 at station 111, and class 222 priority over class 333 at station 222. Its fluid model adds the priority complementarity condition: service capacity available to a priority prefix can be unused only when that prefix has no immediate workload. For either model, fluid stability means that some common time δ>0\delta>0δ>0 empties every admissible solution with ∑kQk(0)=1\sum_kQ_k(0)=1∑k​Qk​(0)=1, with all queues remaining zero for t≥δt\ge\deltat≥δ. Instability is the negation of this statement; it does not require every solution to diverge.

Formalization targets

Exact threshold

Theorem 5.1 and Remark 1 give two connected classifications, under mk>0m_k>0mk​>0, ρ1<1\rho_1<1ρ1​<1, and ρ2<1\rho_2<1ρ2​<1:

¬FluidStable⁡(all work-conserving solutions)⟺m2+m4≥1,\neg\operatorname{FluidStable}(\text{all work-conserving solutions}) \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad m_2+m_4\ge1,¬FluidStable(all work-conserving solutions)⟺m2​+m4​≥1, ¬FluidStable⁡(Lu–Kumar priority solutions)⟺m2+m4≥1.\neg\operatorname{FluidStable}(\text{Lu–Kumar priority solutions}) \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad m_2+m_4\ge1.¬FluidStable(Lu–Kumar priority solutions)⟺m2​+m4​≥1.

The first clause captures the paper's existence of an unstable work-conserving policy: on the unstable side, the named priority discipline supplies one; on the other side, every work-conserving fluid model is stable. The second clause records the particular policy classification stated in Remark 1. Equality belongs to the unstable side: the paper exhibits a periodic nonempty solution there (Dai and Weiss 1996, pp. 125–127).

Supporting targets

The milestones follow the paper's own statements and proof claims. The real-analysis extinction criterion of Lemma 2.2(ii) and the maximum-of-components criterion of Lemma 3.2 provide the stability language. Display (3.2), already available as a proved platform theorem, identifies the derivative of an attained maximum at a regular point. The priority condition (4.4) implies the ordinary work-conserving condition (1.13). The unstable half records one first cycle, one solution with every scaled cycle, and instability of the priority model. The stable half records the authors' explicit parameter choice, the two linear Lyapunov conditions, and stability of every work-conserving fluid solution.

Significance

The threshold says that the two station-load inequalities alone do not characterize stability of all work-conserving service orders. The extra inequality m2+m4<1m_2+m_4<1m2​+m4​<1 determines when the entire work-conserving fluid class is stable; its failure admits a concrete priority discipline with a nonempty trajectory. At the boundary m2+m4=1m_2+m_4=1m2​+m4​=1, growth need not be strict: periodic fluid behavior already defeats finite-time stability. The result therefore distinguishes the paper's global stability region from the larger parameter region in which both stations are nominally underloaded (Dai and Weiss 1996, Remark 1, p. 125).

A machine-checked development would give reusable definitions for a four-stage reentrant fluid model, its priority complementarity condition, and the precise unit-initial-state notion of stability. The local Lean statements in this proposal compile, but their proofs remain open. The published maximum-derivative fact is the one already proved platform component used by this mission. The other milestones identify the mathematical work needed to formalize the known 1996 result, rather than presenting the result as a new open conjecture.

Difficulty

The ordinary load test ρi<1\rho_i<1ρi​<1 controls how much service each station needs on average, but it does not control which class receives service when several buffers at a station are nonempty. In the Lu–Kumar priority discipline, serving a high-priority downstream class changes the future arrival pattern seen by the other station. Thus a direct argument from ρ1<1\rho_1<1ρ1​<1 and ρ2<1\rho_2<1ρ2​<1 to queue extinction fails. On the stable side, checking a single station's workload is also insufficient: its content may fall while earlier-stage fluid continues to feed it. The paper formulates two linear components and a finite maximum; the challenge is to obtain a uniform negative drift whenever that maximum is positive, including times when one station is empty and the other determines the active component (Dai and Weiss 1996, pp. 126–128).

Formalization scope

Classes and stations are Fin 4 and Fin 2, with zero-based Lean indices: paper class kkk is Lean index k−1k-1k−1. The fixed station map is (0,1,1,0)(0,1,1,0)(0,1,1,0). Service times remain real parameters with explicit positivity hypotheses. Paths are total functions of real time, while equations and conclusions apply only on t≥0t\ge0t≥0. The external arrival rate is one, and initial size is the sum ∑kQk(0)\sum_kQ_k(0)∑k​Qk​(0), since class contents are nonnegative. The nominal-load assumptions are the two strict inequalities in (5.1). The named priority ranking is a permutation; it encodes only the station-local comparisons that matter.

Conditions (1.13) and (4.4), printed as complementarity or “increases only when empty,” use an equivalent interval-constancy condition in Lean. No extra Lipschitz or continuity assumption is placed on solutions: the fluid equations and monotone capacity constraints are intended to supply that regularity. Derivatives at regular points are represented with HasDerivAt. Lemma 2.2(ii) uses the non-strict bound g˙≤−ε\dot g\le-\varepsilong˙​≤−ε, the version used by the paper's applications, although its displayed hypothesis prints g˙<−ε\dot g<-\varepsilong˙​<−ε. The p. 127 line involving G1G_1G1​ prints (1−θ2)Q4(1-\theta_2)Q_4(1−θ2​)Q4​; (5.3) fixes the intended coefficient as (1−θ1)Q4(1-\theta_1)Q_4(1−θ1​)Q4​.

The goal uses Definition 1.3 exactly: one uniform emptying time for all solutions of unit initial content. An impossible solution predicate, or an instability claim that only asks for a nonzero state at time zero, would not represent the paper's theorem. The mission needs finite-index sum and maximum infrastructure, absolute continuity and almost-everywhere differentiation on nonnegative time, plus elementary algebra of service rates and the cycle scaling. These components can be reused in later fluid-network missions. Contributions that preserve the source's hypotheses and boundary case are welcome.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and G. Weiss, Stability and instability of fluid models for reentrant lines, Mathematics of Operations Research 21(1), 115–134, 1996. DOI: 10.1287/moor.21.1.115.
14 thms2 active usersReviewed
Dynamical SystemsOperations ResearchStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Stability and Instability of Fluid Models for Reentrant Lines 5: Without Immediate Feedback, Every Work-Conserving Fluid Model of a Two-Station Kelly-Type Line Is StableResearch Paper

Motivation

A multiclass queueing network can be unstable even when every station has enough capacity on average: the queue lengths grow without bound although each server's nominal load is below one. Kumar and Seidman, Lu and Kumar (1991) and Rybko and Stolyar (1992) exhibited such networks under simple priority disciplines. This raised the question of which networks are stable under every reasonable policy, and which policies are stable in every network. Dai (1995) reduced the stability of a queueing network to the stability of its deterministic fluid model, so that the question becomes one about solutions of a system of linear equations and inequalities.

Dai and Weiss (1996) use this reduction to study reentrant lines, the model of semiconductor wafer fabrication in which a single route visits the same machines many times. Section 6 of their paper treats Kelly-type lines, in which every visit to a station has the same mean service time. Kelly (1979) showed that such networks with exponential service times are stable under FIFO and have a product-form stationary distribution. Theorem 6.1 shows that with two stations, and a route that never visits the same station twice in a row, stability holds under every work-conserving policy, not only FIFO. This mission formalizes that theorem.

Setting

A reentrant line has stations 1,…,I1,\dots,I1,…,I and classes 1,…,K1,\dots,K1,…,K. Fluid enters class 111 at rate 111, moves from class kkk to class k+1k+1k+1 on service, and leaves after class KKK. Class kkk is served at station σ(k)\sigma(k)σ(k) with mean service time mk>0m_k > 0mk​>0 and rate μk=1/mk\mu_k = 1/m_kμk​=1/mk​. The constituency of station iii is Ci={k:σ(k)=i}C_i = \{k : \sigma(k) = i\}Ci​={k:σ(k)=i} and its nominal workload is ρi=∑k∈Cimk\rho_i = \sum_{k\in C_i} m_kρi​=∑k∈Ci​​mk​. The traffic condition (1.7) is ρi<1\rho_i < 1ρi​<1 for every iii.

A fluid model solution is a pair (Q,T)(Q, T)(Q,T): Qk(t)≥0Q_k(t) \ge 0Qk​(t)≥0 is the fluid in class kkk at time ttt and Tk(t)T_k(t)Tk​(t) the cumulative service time given to class kkk by time ttt. They satisfy, for t≥0t \ge 0t≥0,

Qk(t)=Qk(0)+μk−1Tk−1(t)−μkTk(t)(μ0T0(t)=t),Q_k(t) = Q_k(0) + \mu_{k-1}T_{k-1}(t) - \mu_k T_k(t) \quad (\mu_0 T_0(t) = t),Qk​(t)=Qk​(0)+μk−1​Tk−1​(t)−μk​Tk​(t)(μ0​T0​(t)=t),

Tk(0)=0T_k(0) = 0Tk​(0)=0 with TkT_kTk​ nondecreasing, and the idle time Ui(t)=t−Bi(t)U_i(t) = t - B_i(t)Ui​(t)=t−Bi​(t), where Bi(t)=∑k∈CiTk(t)B_i(t) = \sum_{k\in C_i} T_k(t)Bi​(t)=∑k∈Ci​​Tk​(t), is nondecreasing. The solution is work-conserving if UiU_iUi​ increases only at times when station iii holds no fluid. The immediate volume of station iii is Wi(t)=∑k∈CimkQk(t)W_i(t) = \sum_{k \in C_i} m_k Q_k(t)Wi​(t)=∑k∈Ci​​mk​Qk​(t).

The line is of Kelly type with station means β1,…,βI\beta_1, \dots, \beta_Iβ1​,…,βI​ if mk=βσ(k)m_k = \beta_{\sigma(k)}mk​=βσ(k)​ for every class kkk. Its routing has no immediate feedback if σ(k+1)≠σ(k)\sigma(k+1) \ne \sigma(k)σ(k+1)=σ(k) for every k<Kk < Kk<K. A set of fluid solutions is stable (Definition 1.3) if there is a δ>0\delta > 0δ>0 such that every solution in the set with ∣Q(0)∣=∑kQk(0)=1|Q(0)| = \sum_k Q_k(0) = 1∣Q(0)∣=∑k​Qk​(0)=1 is empty from time δ\deltaδ on.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 6.1

For a two-station Kelly-type reentrant line without immediate feedback that satisfies (1.7), the work-conserving fluid model is stable: there is δ>0\delta > 0δ>0 with

∑kQk(0)=1 ⟹ Qk(t)=0for all t≥δ, k=1,…,K,\sum_k Q_k(0) = 1 \ \Longrightarrow\ Q_k(t) = 0 \quad \text{for all } t \ge \delta,\ k = 1,\dots,K,k∑​Qk​(0)=1 ⟹ Qk​(t)=0for all t≥δ, k=1,…,K,

for every work-conserving fluid solution (Q,T)(Q,T)(Q,T). The number of classes KKK is arbitrary, of either parity, and the route may start at either station.

Milestones

The milestones follow the proof on p. 130 and the two general lemmas it uses: the extinction criterion of Lemma 2.2 (ii); the derivative of a maximum at an active index, display (3.2), already proved on the platform; the piecewise-linear Lyapunov Lemma 3.2; the drift identity Gi(t)=Gi(0)+∣Ci∣t−Bi(t)/βiG_i(t) = G_i(0) + |C_i|t - B_i(t)/\beta_iGi​(t)=Gi​(0)+∣Ci​∣t−Bi​(t)/βi​ for Gi=∑k∈CiQk+G_i = \sum_{k\in C_i} Q_k^+Gi​=∑k∈Ci​​Qk+​, with Qk+=∑l≤kQlQ_k^+ = \sum_{l\le k} Q_lQk+​=∑l≤k​Ql​; the comparison Wi(t)=0⇒Gi(t)≤Gj(t)W_i(t) = 0 \Rightarrow G_i(t) \le G_j(t)Wi​(t)=0⇒Gi​(t)≤Gj​(t); and the verification that G1,G2G_1, G_2G1​,G2​ meet the hypotheses of Lemma 3.2 with εi=1/βi−∣Ci∣\varepsilon_i = 1/\beta_i - |C_i|εi​=1/βi​−∣Ci​∣.

Significance

The result. Theorem 6.1 gives a class of networks in which stability needs no knowledge of the scheduling policy: any policy that never idles a server with work waiting is stable whenever the nominal loads are below one. For queueing networks this is the property usually called global stability. Through Theorem 1.1 of the paper (Dai 1995, Theorem 4.3) the fluid statement implies positive Harris recurrence of the corresponding multiclass queueing network under every work-conserving head-of-the-line policy. The paper's Remarks 2 and 3 show the boundary: with immediate feedback (the line 1,2,2,2,1,11,2,2,2,1,11,2,2,2,1,1 with all means 0.30.30.3), or with three stations, a Kelly-type line can be unstable. A two-station Kelly-type line without immediate feedback is a unidirectional ring with one customer type, so the theorem is a special case of the ring-network result the paper proves as Theorem 6.2. That result is an open goal on the platform (ProcessingNetworks.GlobalStability.ring_globally_stable, Dai and Harrison's Theorem 8.24) in a different encoding of the fluid model.

Formalizing it. The theorem is proved in the paper, and the mission formalizes that proof. No machine-checked proof of the result, or of the Lyapunov lemmas it uses, is known to exist. The mission also produces reusable pieces: a fluid model of reentrant lines in the paper's own formulation, an extinction lemma for absolutely continuous functions, and the max-of-linear Lyapunov lemma, which the paper uses again in §§3 and 5.

Difficulty

The obvious Lyapunov function, the total workload, does not work: a work-conserving policy may starve a station while the other one is busy, so the total content need not decrease. The paper's components Gi=∑k∈CiQk+G_i = \sum_{k\in C_i}Q_k^+Gi​=∑k∈Ci​​Qk+​ each decrease at the constant rate 1/βi−∣Ci∣1/\beta_i - |C_i|1/βi​−∣Ci​∣ while station iii is busy. When station iii is idle, GiG_iGi​ can grow, and the argument then needs the comparison Gi≤GjG_i \le G_jGi​≤Gj​, which requires the alternating route. The analytic difficulty is the passage from these pointwise statements to extinction. Fluid paths are only Lipschitz. The maximum G=max⁡(G1,G2)G = \max(G_1, G_2)G=max(G1​,G2​) need not be differentiable where the maximum switches, and the drift statements hold only almost everywhere. Lemma 2.2 (ii) and the derivative-of-a-maximum fact (3.2) make this step rigorous. The proof for odd KKK is not printed ("can be proved similarly"), and the formal goal covers it.

Formalization scope

All objects live in the namespace DaiWeissFluid.KellyType. The conventions are fixed as follows.

  • Classes and stations are 0-based (Fin K, Fin I). The paper's class kkk is Lean k - 1.
  • Paths are total functions ℝ → Fin K → ℝ, and every equation is imposed for t≥0t \ge 0t≥0 only. Derivatives are taken at t>0t > 0t>0 via HasDerivAt.
  • Work conservation (1.13) is stated in interval form: UiU_iUi​ is constant on every interval [s,t]⊆[0,∞)[s,t] \subseteq [0,\infty)[s,t]⊆[0,∞) on which station iii holds fluid throughout. For the continuous nondecreasing UiU_iUi​ this is equivalent to the paper's Stieltjes condition. Lipschitz continuity of the paths is not assumed, because it follows from the model.
  • mk>0m_k > 0mk​>0 is an explicit hypothesis. ∣Q(0)∣|Q(0)|∣Q(0)∣ is ∑kQk(0)\sum_k Q_k(0)∑k​Qk​(0).
  • Stability is Definition 1.3, which constrains only solutions with ∣Q(0)∣=1|Q(0)| = 1∣Q(0)∣=1.
  • The paper's Theorem 6.1 says "any work-conserving policy is stable", which is stability of the queueing network (Definition 1.1). Its proof establishes stability of the work-conserving fluid model, and the queueing-level conclusion follows from the cited Theorem 1.1 (Dai 1995). The goal is the fluid statement. Theorem 1.1 and the stochastic model are not formalized.
  • Lemma 2.2 (ii) is stated with the hypothesis g˙≤−ε\dot g \le -\varepsilong˙​≤−ε, where the page prints <<<. This is the form in which every application uses it, and it gives a stronger lemma.
  • The drift identity is stated for every Kelly-type line, which implies the printed K=2nK = 2nK=2n display. The printed "G2(t)=G2(t)+nt−…G_2(t) = G_2(t) + nt - \dotsG2​(t)=G2​(t)+nt−…" is read as G2(0)+nt−…G_2(0) + nt - \dotsG2​(0)+nt−….
  • Condition (b) and the Lemma 3.2 check are stated for both parities of KKK and both starting stations. A station with no classes has its εi\varepsilon_iεi​ left free.

The goal must not be trivialized. It quantifies over all work-conserving solutions with ∣Q(0)∣=1|Q(0)| = 1∣Q(0)∣=1, and this set is nonempty: a sorry-free witness with K=2K = 2K=2 is checked locally. Neither the Kelly-type hypothesis nor the absence of immediate feedback may be dropped (Remark 2), nor may the goal be generalized beyond two stations (Remark 3). Restricting it to even KKK, or to a route starting at station 1, would weaken it.

Contributions welcome: proofs of the general Lemmas 2.2 (ii) and 3.2, which apply across the whole series; the drift identity, which is pure algebra from (1.8); the continuity facts for fluid paths (Lipschitz bounds from (1.10)–(1.12)); and the final assembly.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and G. Weiss, Stability and instability of fluid models for reentrant lines, Mathematics of Operations Research 21(1), 115–134, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.21.1.115
  • J. G. Dai, On positive Harris recurrence of multiclass queueing networks: a unified approach via fluid limit models, Annals of Applied Probability 5(1), 49–77, 1995. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoap/1177004828
  • S. H. Lu and P. R. Kumar, Distributed scheduling based on due dates and buffer priorities, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 36(12), 1406–1416, 1991. https://doi.org/10.1109/9.106156
  • F. P. Kelly, Reversibility and Stochastic Networks, Wiley, 1979.
  • J. G. Dai and J. M. Harrison, Processing Networks: Fluid Models and Stability, Cambridge University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772662
11 thms2 active usersReviewed
AnalysisControl TheoryDynamical Systems+1·Captain: mikedeng1

An Example on the Effect of Time Delays in Boundary Feedback Stabilization of Wave Equations: The Spectral Stability Trichotomy at the Feedback Gain k = (1 − K)/(1 + K), K = e^{−2a}Research Paper

Why delays in boundary feedback matter

Boundary feedback is the standard way to stabilize vibrating structures governed by wave equations: a sensor measures the velocity at the boundary and an actuator applies a force proportional to it. For the one-dimensional damped wave equation with such feedback, the closed loop is uniformly exponentially stable (Chen, 1979). In practice the measured velocity reaches the actuator only after a computation time, so the feedback acts with a time delay ε>0\varepsilon > 0ε>0. The question addressed by Datko, Lagnese and Polis (1986) is whether arbitrarily small delays can destroy the stability of a system that is stable without them.

Their note answers it with an explicit example and a sharp threshold on the feedback gain. It is the founding example of delay-induced instability in boundary stabilization, cited by most later work on robustness of boundary control to delays.

Timeline.

  • Chen (1979, 1981): energy decay E(u,t)≤Ce−αtE(u,0)E(u,t) \le Ce^{-\alpha t}E(u,0)E(u,t)≤Ce−αtE(u,0) for boundary-damped wave equations without delay.
  • Datko (1978): delays in the velocity term of the equation itself can destabilize; a lemma on zeros of exponential polynomials in vertical strips (the source of Lemma 1 here).
  • Datko, Lagnese, Polis (1986, DOI 10.1137/0324007): the delayed boundary feedback ux(1,t)=−kut(1,t−ε)u_x(1,t) = -ku_t(1,t-\varepsilon)ux​(1,t)=−kut​(1,t−ε) for the damped string, with a trichotomy in the gain kkk.
  • Nicaise and Pignotti (2006, DOI 10.1137/060648891): the multidimensional undamped problem with feedback −μ1ut(t)−μ2ut(t−τ)-\mu_1u_t(t) - \mu_2u_t(t-\tau)−μ1​ut​(t)−μ2​ut​(t−τ); stability iff μ2<μ1\mu_2 < \mu_1μ2​<μ1​, instability for a sequence of delays otherwise.

Setting

Fix real numbers a≥0a \ge 0a≥0 (damping), k≥0k \ge 0k≥0 (feedback gain) and ε>0\varepsilon > 0ε>0 (delay), and put K=e−2a∈(0,1]K = e^{-2a} \in (0,1]K=e−2a∈(0,1]. The delayed system is

(1)utt−uxx+2aut+a2u=0,0<x<1, t>0,(2)u(0,t)=0,t>0,(8)ux(1,t)=−k ut(1,t−ε),t>ε.\begin{aligned} &(1)\quad u_{tt} - u_{xx} + 2au_t + a^2u = 0, && 0<x<1,\ t>0,\\ &(2)\quad u(0,t) = 0, && t>0,\\ &(8)\quad u_x(1,t) = -k\,u_t(1,t-\varepsilon), && t>\varepsilon . \end{aligned}​(1)utt​−uxx​+2aut​+a2u=0,(2)u(0,t)=0,(8)ux​(1,t)=−kut​(1,t−ε),​​0<x<1, t>0,t>0,t>ε.​

A classical solution is a C2C^2C2 function u(x,t)u(x,t)u(x,t) with complex values satisfying (1), (2), (8).

Separated solutions u=eωtφ(x)u = e^{\omega t}\varphi(x)u=eωtφ(x) lead to the eigenvalue problem

φ′′(x)=(a+ω)2φ(x) (0<x<1),φ(0)=0,φ′(1)+kωe−εωφ(1)=0.\varphi''(x) = (a+\omega)^2\varphi(x)\ (0<x<1),\qquad \varphi(0) = 0,\qquad \varphi'(1) + k\omega e^{-\varepsilon\omega}\varphi(1) = 0 .φ′′(x)=(a+ω)2φ(x) (0<x<1),φ(0)=0,φ′(1)+kωe−εωφ(1)=0.

The spectrum σ(a,k,ε)\sigma(a,k,\varepsilon)σ(a,k,ε) is the set of ω∈C\omega \in \mathbb Cω∈C for which this problem has a solution φ\varphiφ not identically zero on [0,1][0,1][0,1]. The paper encodes it through the entire functions

f(ε,ω)=1+Ke−2ω+ke−εω(1−Ke−2ω),h(ε,ω)=ωf(ε,ω)+a(1+Ke−2ω),f(\varepsilon,\omega) = 1 + Ke^{-2\omega} + ke^{-\varepsilon\omega}(1 - Ke^{-2\omega}),\qquad h(\varepsilon,\omega) = \omega f(\varepsilon,\omega) + a(1 + Ke^{-2\omega}),f(ε,ω)=1+Ke−2ω+ke−εω(1−Ke−2ω),h(ε,ω)=ωf(ε,ω)+a(1+Ke−2ω),

and the critical gain (1−K)/(1+K)(1-K)/(1+K)(1−K)/(1+K). In Lean these are K a, f a k ε ω, h a k ε ω, delaySpectrum a k ε, IsClassicalSolution a k ε u and IsExpUnstableSolution a k ε u in the namespace DatkoDelayWave.BoundaryDelay.

Formalization targets

Goal: the stability trichotomy (THEOREM, p. 153)

  1. If 0<k<1−K1+K0 < k < \frac{1-K}{1+K}0<k<1+K1−K​: for each ε>0\varepsilon > 0ε>0 there is β(ε)>0\beta(\varepsilon) > 0β(ε)>0 with
σ(a,k,ε)⊆{Re⁡ω≤−β}.\sigma(a,k,\varepsilon) \subseteq \{\operatorname{Re}\omega \le -\beta\}.σ(a,k,ε)⊆{Reω≤−β}.
  1. If k=1−K1+K>0k = \frac{1-K}{1+K} > 0k=1+K1−K​>0: for each ε>0\varepsilon > 0ε>0, σ(a,k,ε)⊆{Re⁡ω<0}\sigma(a,k,\varepsilon) \subseteq \{\operatorname{Re}\omega < 0\}σ(a,k,ε)⊆{Reω<0}, but there is a countable set R⊆(0,∞)R \subseteq (0,\infty)R⊆(0,∞), dense in (0,∞)(0,\infty)(0,∞), such that for each ε∈R\varepsilon \in Rε∈R some sequence ωn∈σ(a,k,ε)\omega_n \in \sigma(a,k,\varepsilon)ωn​∈σ(a,k,ε) has Re⁡ωn→0\operatorname{Re}\omega_n \to 0Reωn​→0.
  2. If k>1−K1+Kk > \frac{1-K}{1+K}k>1+K1−K​: there is an open set D⊆(0,∞)D \subseteq (0,\infty)D⊆(0,∞), dense in (0,∞)(0,\infty)(0,∞), such that for each ε∈D\varepsilon \in Dε∈D the system has a classical solution with ∣u(x0,t)∣≥ceγt|u(x_0,t)| \ge ce^{\gamma t}∣u(x0​,t)∣≥ceγt for some γ,c>0\gamma, c > 0γ,c>0, x0∈(0,1)x_0 \in (0,1)x0​∈(0,1) and all t≥0t \ge 0t≥0.

Milestones

In attack order: the characteristic equation (16) (ω∈σ  ⟺  h(ε,ω)=0\omega \in \sigma \iff h(\varepsilon,\omega) = 0ω∈σ⟺h(ε,ω)=0 for ω≠−a\omega \ne -aω=−a); separated solutions; Lemma 1 (one zero of fff forces infinitely many zeros of fff and hhh in every vertical strip around it); (17)–(18) (no zeros of hhh in the right half-plane below or at the critical gain); the half-plane bound below the critical gain; (19) (no purely imaginary zeros at the critical gain); the explicit zero f(2(2m+1)2n+1,(2n+1)πi2)=0f\bigl(\tfrac{2(2m+1)}{2n+1}, \tfrac{(2n+1)\pi i}{2}\bigr) = 0f(2n+12(2m+1)​,2(2n+1)πi​)=0; density of the delays 2(2m+1)2n+1\tfrac{2(2m+1)}{2n+1}2n+12(2m+1)​; the root family (12)–(15) above the critical gain; Lemma 2 (an open dense set of delays with zeros of fff in Re⁡ω>0\operatorname{Re}\omega > 0Reω>0); the three parts of the THEOREM separately; and, off the goal's path, the undelayed formula Re⁡ω=12log⁡∣k−1k+1∣\operatorname{Re}\omega = \tfrac12\log\bigl|\tfrac{k-1}{k+1}\bigr|Reω=21​log​k+1k−1​​ for a=0a = 0a=0.

Significance

The result shows that exponential stability obtained by boundary velocity feedback is not robust to delays when the gain is above (1−K)/(1+K)(1-K)/(1+K)(1−K)/(1+K): delays from a dense set of lengths, including arbitrarily small ones, produce exponentially growing modes. When a=0a = 0a=0 the critical gain is 000, so every positive gain is fragile. Below the critical gain the spectral gap survives every delay. This identifies a quantitative robustness margin and motivated the later analysis of delayed boundary control, including the Nicaise–Pignotti theorems already posed on the platform for a different, multidimensional model (NicaiseDelayWave.*).

The result is proved in the paper, partly by citation: Lemma 1 is quoted from Datko (1978) without proof, and the open-mapping step of Lemma 2 is sketched. No machine-checked version exists. A formalization would check the threshold computations, supply the strip-zero lemma for this exponential polynomial, and give a rigorous version of the open-mapping step.

Difficulty

The algebraic parts, (16)–(19) and the explicit zeros, are calculations with complex exponentials. The difficulty is in Lemma 1 and Lemma 2. Lemma 1 needs the almost-periodic structure of exponential polynomials in vertical strips together with a Hurwitz or Rouché type argument, and neither is in Mathlib. Lemma 2 needs zeros of f(ε,⋅)f(\varepsilon,\cdot)f(ε,⋅) to persist under small changes of the real parameter ε\varepsilonε. The paper's route through the logarithmic map (11) does not work as printed, because it is stated with the principal branch exactly on the branch cut. In part (i), the delicate step is excluding accumulation of zeros at the imaginary axis as ∣Im⁡ω∣→∞|\operatorname{Im}\omega| \to \infty∣Imω∣→∞, which the half-plane estimate alone does not give.

Formalization scope

Parameters a,k,εa, k, \varepsilona,k,ε are real, ω∈C\omega \in \mathbb Cω∈C, eigenfunctions are maps R→C\mathbb R \to \mathbb CR→C and solutions are maps u:R→R→Cu : \mathbb R \to \mathbb R \to \mathbb Cu:R→R→C (space first). Partial derivatives are deriv of the sections. Solutions and eigenfunctions are required to be C2C^2C2 on all of R2\mathbb R^2R2, resp. R\mathbb RR; this loses no eigenvalue, since solutions of (5) are combinations of e±(a+ω)xe^{\pm(a+\omega)x}e±(a+ω)x. Committed readings of the paper's loose phrases:

  • the spectrum is the eigenvalue set of the problem above, not the zero set of hhh; h(ε,−a)=0h(\varepsilon,-a) = 0h(ε,−a)=0 always, so (16) is stated for ω≠−a\omega \neq -aω=−a;
  • "countably dense set RRR in (0,∞)(0,\infty)(0,∞)": R⊆(0,∞)R \subseteq (0,\infty)R⊆(0,∞), RRR countable, (0,∞)⊆R‾(0,\infty) \subseteq \overline R(0,∞)⊆R;
  • "dense open set DDD in (0,∞)(0,\infty)(0,∞)": D⊆(0,∞)D \subseteq (0,\infty)D⊆(0,∞) open, (0,∞)⊆D‾(0,\infty) \subseteq \overline D(0,∞)⊆D;
  • "exponentially unstable solution": a classical solution with ∣u(x0,t)∣≥ceγt|u(x_0,t)| \ge ce^{\gamma t}∣u(x0​,t)∣≥ceγt for all t≥0t \ge 0t≥0;
  • "an infinite number of zeros" (Lemma 1): the zero set in the open strip is infinite, for fff and for hhh separately;
  • "there exists β(ε)>0\beta(\varepsilon) > 0β(ε)>0": ∀ε>0 ∃β>0\forall \varepsilon > 0\ \exists \beta > 0∀ε>0 ∃β>0, so β\betaβ may depend on ε\varepsilonε;
  • part (ii) carries k>0k > 0k>0, the paper's standing assumption (p. 152); without it the part is false at a=0a = 0a=0;
  • m,nm, nm,n in 2(2m+1)/(2n+1)2(2m+1)/(2n+1)2(2m+1)/(2n+1) are positive integers in (12)–(15) and in the density of (15), as in the proof of Lemma 2; in the explicit threshold zero, where the page says "m,nm, nm,n are arbitrary", they range over all natural numbers.

Trivializing encodings are ruled out: defining the spectrum as the zero set of hhh would make −a-a−a a spurious spectral point, and reading "exponentially unstable" as "the spectrum meets Re⁡ω>0\operatorname{Re}\omega > 0Reω>0" would delete the solution-level content of part (iii).

A complete development needs zero-counting tools for exponential polynomials in strips (almost periodicity, Hurwitz's theorem), which would be reusable for other delay equations. Contributions to any milestone, and to that general infrastructure, are welcome.

Selected references

  • R. Datko, J. Lagnese, M. P. Polis, An example on the effect of time delays in boundary feedback stabilization of wave equations, SIAM J. Control Optim. 24(1), 152–156, 1986. https://doi.org/10.1137/0324007
  • R. Datko, A procedure for determination of the exponential stability of certain differential-difference equations, Quart. Appl. Math. 36, 279–292, 1978.
  • G. Chen, Energy decay estimates and exact boundary value controllability for the wave equation in a bounded domain, J. Math. Pures Appl. 58, 249–274, 1979.
  • S. Nicaise, C. Pignotti, Stability and instability results of the wave equation with a delay term in the boundary or internal feedbacks, SIAM J. Control Optim. 45(5), 1561–1585, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1137/060648891
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Quantifying Distributional Model Risk via Optimal Transport 3: A Worst-Case Transport Plan Exists in a Locally Compact Normed Space under Growth Conditions on c and fResearch Paper

Motivation

In distributionally robust modelling, a baseline probability model μ\muμ on a space SSS is distrusted, and the analyst reports the largest expected loss over every model within a budget of μ\muμ. Blanchet and Murthy (arXiv:1604.01446; Math. Oper. Res. 44(2), 2019, doi:10.1287/moor.2018.0936) measure the budget with an optimal transport cost and prove strong duality for the resulting worst-case expectation on an arbitrary Polish space, with a lower semicontinuous cost and an upper semicontinuous performance function. Duality computes the worst-case value. A risk manager also wants the worst-case model: a distribution that attains the value, whose structure explains which perturbation of μ\muμ is most harmful.

Such a model need not exist. Unlike the Kantorovich problem, where the set of couplings with two fixed marginals is weakly compact, the feasible set here fixes only one marginal and is not compact in general. Section 5 of the paper gives an example on R\mathbb RR where the supremum is not attained, then gives abstract conditions under which it is (Proposition 9), and growth conditions on a locally compact normed space that imply them (Corollary 1). Related existence results in Rd\mathbb R^dRd were obtained by Gao and Kleywegt (arXiv:1604.02199, 2016) and, for empirical baselines and norm costs, by Mohajerin Esfahani and Kuhn (arXiv:1505.05116, 2018).

Setting

Let SSS be a Polish space with its Borel σ\sigmaσ-algebra, μ\muμ a probability measure on SSS, δ>0\delta>0δ>0 a budget, c:S×S→[0,∞)c:S\times S\to[0,\infty)c:S×S→[0,∞) a cost and f:S→Rf:S\to\mathbb Rf:S→R a performance function. The standing assumptions are:

  • (A1) ccc is lower semicontinuous and c(x,y)=0c(x,y)=0c(x,y)=0 iff x=yx=yx=y;
  • (A2) fff is upper semicontinuous and μ\muμ-integrable.

The primal feasible set Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ consists of the probability measures π\piπ on S×SS\times SS×S with first marginal μ\muμ and ∫c dπ≤δ\int c\,d\pi\le\delta∫cdπ≤δ (transport plans out of μ\muμ of cost at most δ\deltaδ). The primal objective is I(π)=∫f(y) dπ(x,y)I(\pi)=\int f(y)\,d\pi(x,y)I(π)=∫f(y)dπ(x,y) and the primal value is I=sup⁡{I(π):π∈Φμ,δ}I=\sup\{I(\pi):\pi\in\Phi_{\mu,\delta}\}I=sup{I(π):π∈Φμ,δ​}. The dual feasible set Λc,f\Lambda_{c,f}Λc,f​ consists of pairs (λ,φ)(\lambda,\varphi)(λ,φ) with λ≥0\lambda\ge0λ≥0, φ:S→[−∞,∞]\varphi:S\to[-\infty,\infty]φ:S→[−∞,∞] universally measurable and φ(x)+λc(x,y)≥f(y)\varphi(x)+\lambda c(x,y)\ge f(y)φ(x)+λc(x,y)≥f(y) for all x,yx,yx,y. The dual objective is J(λ,φ)=λδ+∫φ dμJ(\lambda,\varphi)=\lambda\delta+\int\varphi\,d\muJ(λ,φ)=λδ+∫φdμ and the dual value is J=inf⁡J(λ,φ)J=\inf J(\lambda,\varphi)J=infJ(λ,φ). For λ≥0\lambda\ge0λ≥0 put φλ(x)=sup⁡y{f(y)−λc(x,y)}\varphi_\lambda(x)=\sup_y\{f(y)-\lambda c(x,y)\}φλ​(x)=supy​{f(y)−λc(x,y)}.

Section 5 assumes throughout that (λ∗,φλ∗)∈Λc,f(\lambda^*,\varphi_{\lambda^*})\in\Lambda_{c,f}(λ∗,φλ∗​)∈Λc,f​ is a dual optimal pair with I=J=J(λ∗,φλ∗)<∞I=J=J(\lambda^*,\varphi_{\lambda^*})<\inftyI=J=J(λ∗,φλ∗​)<∞. Write Φμ,δ′\Phi'_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ′​ for the plans in Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ concentrated on {f(x)≤f(y)}\{f(x)\le f(y)\}{f(x)≤f(y)}.

(P-Compactness): for every ε>0\varepsilon>0ε>0 there are a compact KεK_\varepsilonKε​ with μ(Kε)>1−ε\mu(K_\varepsilon)>1-\varepsilonμ(Kε​)>1−ε and γ>0\gamma>0γ>0 such that {(x,y)∈Kε×S:f(y)−λ∗c(x,y)≥φλ∗(x)−γ}\{(x,y)\in K_\varepsilon\times S: f(y)-\lambda^*c(x,y)\ge\varphi_{\lambda^*}(x)-\gamma\}{(x,y)∈Kε​×S:f(y)−λ∗c(x,y)≥φλ∗​(x)−γ} has compact closure. (P-USC): lim sup⁡nI(πn)≤I(π∗)\limsup_n I(\pi_n)\le I(\pi^*)limsupn​I(πn​)≤I(π∗) whenever πn∈Φμ,δ′\pi_n\in\Phi'_{\mu,\delta}πn​∈Φμ,δ′​ converge weakly to π∗∈Φμ,δ\pi^*\in\Phi_{\mu,\delta}π∗∈Φμ,δ​.

On a normed space EEE: (A3) c(x,y)≥g(∥x−y∥)c(x,y)\ge g(\|x-y\|)c(x,y)≥g(∥x−y∥) for ∥x−y∥>C\|x-y\|>C∥x−y∥>C, with ggg nondecreasing and g(t)↑∞g(t)\uparrow\inftyg(t)↑∞. (A4) (f(y)−f(x))/(1+h(∥x−y∥))≤K(f(y)-f(x))/(1+h(\|x-y\|))\le K(f(y)−f(x))/(1+h(∥x−y∥))≤K for an increasing hhh with h(t)↑∞h(t)\uparrow\inftyh(t)↑∞; and for every ε>0\varepsilon>0ε>0, f(y)−f(x)≤ε(1+c(x,y))f(y)-f(x)\le\varepsilon(1+c(x,y))f(y)−f(x)≤ε(1+c(x,y)) once ∥x−y∥>Cε\|x-y\|>C_\varepsilon∥x−y∥>Cε​.

Formalization targets

Goal: Corollary 1 (p. 27)

Let EEE be a real normed space that is locally compact, and let c,fc,fc,f satisfy (A1)–(A4). Under the standing assumption, if λ∗>0\lambda^*>0λ∗>0 there is π∗∈Φμ,δ\pi^*\in\Phi_{\mu,\delta}π∗∈Φμ,δ​ with

I(π∗)=I=J=J(λ∗,φλ∗).I(\pi^*)=I=J=J(\lambda^*,\varphi_{\lambda^*}).I(π∗)=I=J=J(λ∗,φλ∗​).

Milestones

  1. Remark 4, (10)–(11) (p. 8): for π∈Φμ,δ\pi\in\Phi_{\mu,\delta}π∈Φμ,δ​, I−I(π)I-I(\pi)I−I(π) is the sum of two nonnegative gaps, ∫(φλ∗(x)−f(y)+λ∗c(x,y)) dπ\int(\varphi_{\lambda^*}(x)-f(y)+\lambda^*c(x,y))\,d\pi∫(φλ∗​(x)−f(y)+λ∗c(x,y))dπ and λ∗(δ−∫c dπ)\lambda^*(\delta-\int c\,d\pi)λ∗(δ−∫cdπ); so an ε\varepsilonε-optimal plan has both gaps at most ε\varepsilonε.
  2. Lemma 17 (p. 43): every plan in Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ can be replaced by one in Φμ,δ′\Phi'_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ′​ with at least the same value.
  3. §5 display (p. 26): I=sup⁡{I(π):π∈Φμ,δ′}I=\sup\{I(\pi):\pi\in\Phi'_{\mu,\delta}\}I=sup{I(π):π∈Φμ,δ′​}.
  4. Proposition 9 (p. 26): on a Polish space, (P-Compactness) and (P-USC) give a primal optimizer.
  5. Corollary 1, Step 1 (p. 28): (A1)–(A4) and λ∗>0\lambda^*>0λ∗>0 give (P-Compactness).
  6. Corollary 1, Step 2 (pp. 28–29): (A1), (A2), (A4) and I<∞I<\inftyI<∞ give (P-USC):
lim sup⁡n∫f(y) dπn≤∫f(y) dπ∗.\limsup_n\int f(y)\,d\pi_n\le\int f(y)\,d\pi^*.nlimsup​∫f(y)dπn​≤∫f(y)dπ∗.

Significance

The result. An attained worst case turns duality into a structural statement. By Theorem 1(b) of the paper, an optimizer moves mass from xxx only to maximizers of f(y)−λ∗c(x,y)f(y)-\lambda^*c(x,y)f(y)−λ∗c(x,y) and, when λ∗>0\lambda^*>0λ∗>0, uses the full budget. When those maximizers are unique (Remark 8: ccc convex in yyy, fff concave) the worst-case model is unique and is the image of μ\muμ under a transport map. That map is what stress tests and robust estimators are built from. Without existence, these statements describe an object that may not be there.

Formalizing it. The paper's proofs are complete; nothing here is open. No machine-checked version of this result is known: the worst-case optimal transport literature, including the strong duality of this paper, is unformalized. The mission produces the transport objects of §2 in a form that keeps the paper's generality (Polish space, lower semicontinuous real cost, universally measurable dual variables, the ∞−∞\infty-\infty∞−∞ convention), a tightness argument for nearly optimal one-marginal plans, and an upper semicontinuity argument for unbounded upper semicontinuous integrands under uniform integrability.

Difficulty

The obvious argument takes a maximizing sequence and extracts a weak limit. Both steps fail without more structure. First, Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ is not tight: only the first marginal is fixed, and a sequence may push mass to infinity at bounded cost. That is exactly what happens in Example 2 (p. 26), where λ∗=0\lambda^*=0λ∗=0 and the value 111 is approached but never reached. Tightness has to come from the dual: nearly optimal plans concentrate near maximizers of f(y)−λ∗c(x,y)f(y)-\lambda^*c(x,y)f(y)−λ∗c(x,y), and (A3)–(A4) with λ∗>0\lambda^*>0λ∗>0 confine those maximizers. Second, fff is only upper semicontinuous and unbounded, so weak convergence alone does not give lim sup⁡∫f dπn≤∫f dπ∗\limsup\int f\,d\pi_n\le\int f\,d\pi^*limsup∫fdπn​≤∫fdπ∗. A uniform integrability bound is needed, and it uses the restriction to Φμ,δ′\Phi'_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ′​ in an essential way. A third, Lean-specific difficulty is measure-theoretic: φλ∗\varphi_{\lambda^*}φλ∗​ is only universally measurable, and the gaps of Remark 4 are integrals against completions.

Formalization scope

All declarations sit in the namespace ModelRiskOT.PrimalOpt. Values of I(π)I(\pi)I(π), III, J(λ,φ)J(\lambda,\varphi)J(λ,φ), JJJ and φλ\varphi_\lambdaφλ​ are in EReal. I(π)I(\pi)I(π) is ∫f+(y) dπ−∫f−(y) dπ\int f^+(y)\,d\pi-\int f^-(y)\,d\pi∫f+(y)dπ−∫f−(y)dπ with lower integrals, and Mathlib's ⊤−⊤=⊥\top-\top=\bot⊤−⊤=⊥ realises the paper's reading of the supremum (footnote 2, p. 5). Integrals of nonnegative or extended-real functions are lower integrals (lintegral), never Bochner integrals. Universal measurability is the published BertsekasShreve.AnalyticSelection.IsUniversallyMeasurable. Weak convergence is the topology of ProbabilityMeasure (S × S). Measures on S×SS\times SS×S use the product σ\sigmaσ-algebra.

The following readings are fixed:

  • The standing assumption of §5 ((λ∗,φλ∗)∈Λc,f(\lambda^*,\varphi_{\lambda^*})\in\Lambda_{c,f}(λ∗,φλ∗​)∈Λc,f​, I=JI=JI=J, J=J(λ∗,φλ∗)J=J(\lambda^*,\varphi_{\lambda^*})J=J(λ∗,φλ∗​), finiteness) consists of hypotheses of Proposition 9 and Corollary 1. I=JI=JI=J is Theorem 1(a), the goal of the companion mission on strong duality, and is not assumed proved here.
  • In (P-Compactness) the constant γ\gammaγ may depend on ε\varepsilonε.
  • "Increasing" in (A4) is strict.
  • Remark 4's second conclusion in (11) is also stated as λ∗(δ−∫c dπ)≤ε\lambda^*(\delta-\int c\,d\pi)\le\varepsilonλ∗(δ−∫cdπ)≤ε, which covers λ∗=0\lambda^*=0λ∗=0.
  • Lemma 17's last inequality is stated for every plan, which is equivalent under the EReal convention.
  • Corollary 1's space is a real normed space with LocallyCompactSpace. It also carries PolishSpace, which is redundant, since a locally compact real normed space is finite-dimensional.

The goal cannot be satisfied by a junk value: III and JJJ are EReal suprema and infima, not real sSup, and the hypothesis λ∗>0\lambda^*>0λ∗>0 is kept because Example 2 shows the conclusion fails without it. A sorry-free check that c(x,y)=(x−y)2c(x,y)=(x-y)^2c(x,y)=(x−y)2, f(y)=yf(y)=yf(y)=y on R\mathbb RR satisfy (A1), (A3) and (A4) accompanies the drafts.

A complete development needs Prokhorov's theorem (in Mathlib), a Fatou lemma for weakly converging measures with a lower semicontinuous integrand, an upper semicontinuity theorem for uniformly integrable upper semicontinuous integrands, and the change of variables ∫φ(x) dπ=∫φ dμ\int\varphi(x)\,d\pi=\int\varphi\,d\mu∫φ(x)dπ=∫φdμ for universally measurable φ\varphiφ. The last three are reusable well beyond this mission. Proofs of any milestone, and these general lemmas as separate contributions, are welcome.

Selected references

  • J. Blanchet and K. Murthy, Quantifying Distributional Model Risk via Optimal Transport, Math. Oper. Res. 44(2):565–600, 2019. arXiv:1604.01446v2, doi:10.1287/moor.2018.0936
  • R. Gao and A. Kleywegt, Distributionally Robust Stochastic Optimization with Wasserstein Distance, 2016. arXiv:1604.02199
  • P. Mohajerin Esfahani and D. Kuhn, Data-driven distributionally robust optimization using the Wasserstein metric, Math. Program. 171:115–166, 2018. arXiv:1505.05116
  • A. M. Zapała, Unbounded mappings and weak convergence of measures, Statist. Probab. Lett. 78(6):698–706, 2008. doi:10.1016/j.spl.2007.09.033
  • C. Villani, Optimal Transport: Old and New, Springer, 2009. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-71050-9
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Operations ResearchOptimal TransportOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Quantifying Distributional Model Risk via Optimal Transport 2: The Worst-Case Probability of a Closed Set A Equals the Baseline Probability of Its Inflation {x : c(x, A) ≤ 1/λ*}Research Paper

Motivation

A probability model μ\muμ for a risk quantity, such as the reserve process of an insurer or the path of a queue, is usually chosen for tractability or fitted to limited data, and the true law of the system is unknown. Distributional model risk asks how large a probability of interest could be if the true law were any model "close" to μ\muμ. When closeness is measured by an optimal transport cost rather than a likelihood ratio, the competing models may put mass where μ\muμ puts none, which is the situation for rare events such as ruin or buffer overflow: the event of interest often lies outside the support of the baseline.

Blanchet and Murthy (arXiv:1604.01446, Mathematics of Operations Research 44(2), 2019) prove strong duality for worst-case expectations over an optimal-transport ball on a general Polish space, with a lower semicontinuous cost. Their §2.4 specializes the duality to worst-case probabilities of a closed set and obtains a closed-form answer: the worst-case probability of AAA is the baseline probability of an inflated version of AAA. This mission formalizes that result, Theorem 3 of the paper, together with the numbered statements its proof uses.

Setting

Let SSS be a Polish space with its Borel σ\sigmaσ-algebra, P(S)P(S)P(S) its probability measures, and μ∈P(S)\mu \in P(S)μ∈P(S) the baseline. A cost c:S×S→R+c : S \times S \to \mathbb R_+c:S×S→R+​ satisfies Assumption (A1): it is nonnegative, lower semicontinuous, and c(x,y)=0c(x,y) = 0c(x,y)=0 if and only if x=yx = yx=y.

For μ1,μ2∈P(S)\mu_1, \mu_2 \in P(S)μ1​,μ2​∈P(S), a coupling of μ1\mu_1μ1​ and μ2\mu_2μ2​ is a probability measure π\piπ on S×SS \times SS×S with marginals μ1\mu_1μ1​ and μ2\mu_2μ2​; Π(μ1,μ2)\Pi(\mu_1,\mu_2)Π(μ1​,μ2​) is the set of couplings, and the optimal transport cost is

dc(μ1,μ2)=inf⁡{∫c dπ:π∈Π(μ1,μ2)}.d_c(\mu_1,\mu_2) = \inf\Big\{\int c\,d\pi : \pi \in \Pi(\mu_1,\mu_2)\Big\}.dc​(μ1​,μ2​)=inf{∫cdπ:π∈Π(μ1​,μ2​)}.

For a budget δ>0\delta > 0δ>0, the primal feasible set Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ consists of the probability measures π\piπ on S×SS \times SS×S with first marginal μ\muμ and ∫c dπ≤δ\int c\,d\pi \le \delta∫cdπ≤δ.

Fix a nonempty closed set A⊆SA \subseteq SA⊆S and let c(x,A)=inf⁡{c(x,y):y∈A}c(x,A) = \inf\{c(x,y) : y \in A\}c(x,A)=inf{c(x,y):y∈A} be the cheapest cost of moving unit mass from xxx into AAA. The worst-case probability is

I=sup⁡{P(A):dc(μ,P)≤δ}.(12)I = \sup\{P(A) : d_c(\mu,P) \le \delta\}. \tag{12}I=sup{P(A):dc​(μ,P)≤δ}.(12)

Its dual is the univariate problem

inf⁡λ≥0{λδ+Eμ[(1−λc(X,A))+]},(13)\inf_{\lambda \ge 0}\Big\{\lambda\delta + E_\mu\big[(1 - \lambda c(X,A))^+\big]\Big\}, \tag{13}λ≥0inf​{λδ+Eμ​[(1−λc(X,A))+]},(13)

and for a minimizer λ∗∈[0,∞)\lambda^* \in [0,\infty)λ∗∈[0,∞) of (13) the paper defines

c‾=∫{c(x,A)<1/λ∗}c(x,A) dμ(x),c‾=∫{c(x,A)≤1/λ∗}c(x,A) dμ(x).(14)\underline c = \int_{\{c(x,A) < 1/\lambda^*\}} c(x,A)\,d\mu(x), \qquad \overline c = \int_{\{c(x,A) \le 1/\lambda^*\}} c(x,A)\,d\mu(x). \tag{14}c​=∫{c(x,A)<1/λ∗}​c(x,A)dμ(x),c=∫{c(x,A)≤1/λ∗}​c(x,A)dμ(x).(14)

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 3 (p. 10)

If λ∗∈[0,∞)\lambda^* \in [0,\infty)λ∗∈[0,∞) attains the infimum in (13) and c‾=c‾\underline c = \overline cc​=c, then

sup⁡{P(A):dc(μ,P)≤δ}=μ{x:c(x,A)≤1/λ∗}.(15)\sup\{P(A) : d_c(\mu,P) \le \delta\} = \mu\{x : c(x,A) \le 1/\lambda^*\}. \tag{15}sup{P(A):dc​(μ,P)≤δ}=μ{x:c(x,A)≤1/λ∗}.(15)

Milestones, in the order the proof uses them

  1. Coupling form (§2.2, p. 5, for f=1Af = 1_Af=1A​): I=sup⁡{π(S×A):π∈Φμ,δ}I = \sup\{\pi(S \times A) : \pi \in \Phi_{\mu,\delta}\}I=sup{π(S×A):π∈Φμ,δ​}.
  2. Indicator supremum (pp. 8–9): sup⁡y{1A(y)−λc(x,y)}=(1−λc(x,A))+\sup_{y}\{1_A(y) - \lambda c(x,y)\} = (1 - \lambda c(x,A))^+supy​{1A​(y)−λc(x,y)}=(1−λc(x,A))+ for λ≥0\lambda \ge 0λ≥0.
  3. (13) (p. 9): III equals the infimum in (13).
  4. Remark 4, (11) for f=1Af = 1_Af=1A​ (p. 8): an ε\varepsilonε-optimal plan πε\pi_\varepsilonπε​ satisfies ∫(φλ∗(x)−(1A(y)−λ∗c(x,y))) dπε≤ε\int(\varphi_{\lambda^*}(x) - (1_A(y) - \lambda^* c(x,y)))\,d\pi_\varepsilon \le \varepsilon∫(φλ∗​(x)−(1A​(y)−λ∗c(x,y)))dπε​≤ε and, for λ∗>0\lambda^* > 0λ∗>0, (δ−ε/λ∗)+≤∫c dπε≤δ(\delta - \varepsilon/\lambda^*)^+ \le \int c\,d\pi_\varepsilon \le \delta(δ−ε/λ∗)+≤∫cdπε​≤δ.
  5. Lemma 4 (p. 11): plans πn∈Φμ,δ\pi_n \in \Phi_{\mu,\delta}πn​∈Φμ,δ​, n>1n > 1n>1, with πn(Cn)≥1−1/n\pi_n(C_n) \ge 1 - 1/nπn​(Cn​)≥1−1/n, no cost outside the set CnC_nCn​ of §2.4.1, and πn(S×A)≥I−2/n\pi_n(S \times A) \ge I - 2/nπn​(S×A)≥I−2/n.
  6. Lemma 2 (p. 10): c‾≤δ≤c‾\underline c \le \delta \le \overline cc​≤δ≤c if λ∗>0\lambda^* > 0λ∗>0 attains (13); δ≥c‾=c‾\delta \ge \overline c = \underline cδ≥c=c​ if λ∗=0\lambda^* = 0λ∗=0 does.

Significance

Theorem 3 converts a supremum over an infinite-dimensional ball of probability measures into a single probability under the baseline: μ\muμ of the set of points that can reach AAA at cost at most 1/λ∗1/\lambda^*1/λ∗, where 1/λ∗1/\lambda^*1/λ∗ is determined by δ\deltaδ through the one-dimensional function u↦∫{c(x,A)≤u}c(x,A) dμu \mapsto \int_{\{c(x,A) \le u\}} c(x,A)\,d\muu↦∫{c(x,A)≤u}​c(x,A)dμ. For the cost c=dc = dc=d of a metric this is the baseline probability of the 1/λ∗1/\lambda^*1/λ∗-neighbourhood of AAA. The paper uses it to compute worst-case ruin probabilities for the Cramér–Lundberg model around a Brownian approximation (§3, §6.1), where SSS is a path space; the result applies there because nothing in it uses local compactness of SSS.

The result is proved in the paper. As far as the platform's corpus shows, neither it nor the strong duality behind it has been formalized. A formal development produces, beyond Theorem 3: a reusable definition of optimal transport costs with lower semicontinuous costs on Polish spaces; the coupling reformulation of the transport ball, which rests on the existence of optimal transport plans (Villani, Optimal Transport, Theorem 4.1), not in Mathlib; and an ε\varepsilonε-optimal-plan argument that avoids assuming a primal optimizer exists.

Difficulty

The heuristic derivation on pp. 9–10 constructs an optimal transport plan that moves each xxx with c(x,A)≤1/λ∗c(x,A) \le 1/\lambda^*c(x,A)≤1/λ∗ to a nearest point of AAA and leaves the others in place. It needs a nearest point to exist and to be selectable measurably, which fails for general closed AAA in a non-locally-compact space, and it needs a primal optimizer, which need not exist. Theorem 3 assumes neither, so the construction is not a proof. A second point is the boundary level c(x,A)=1/λ∗c(x,A) = 1/\lambda^*c(x,A)=1/λ∗: when μ\muμ charges it, as for atomic baselines, the identity (15) can fail (for μ\muμ a point mass at distance 111 from AAA and δ<1\delta < 1δ<1, the worst case is δ\deltaδ, not 111), and the hypothesis c‾=c‾\underline c = \overline cc​=c is exactly what excludes this. Measurability is a second obstacle: x↦c(x,A)x \mapsto c(x,A)x↦c(x,A) is an infimum of a lower semicontinuous function over AAA and in general only universally measurable, so integrals of it are taken against the completion of μ\muμ.

Formalization scope

All objects live in the namespace ModelRiskOT.WorstProb. SSS carries [TopologicalSpace S] [PolishSpace S] [MeasurableSpace S] [BorelSpace S]; μ\muμ is a Measure S with IsProbabilityMeasure; the cost is a real-valued c : S → S → ℝ with (A1) bundled as a structure (nonnegativity, lower semicontinuity on S×SS \times SS×S, and c(x,y)=0  ⟺  x=yc(x,y) = 0 \iff x = yc(x,y)=0⟺x=y). Committed conventions:

  • Values in [0,∞][0,\infty][0,∞]. dcd_cdc​, III, the objective of (13), c‾\underline cc​ and c‾\overline cc are ℝ≥0∞; integrals are lower Lebesgue integrals and the positive part (⋅)+(\cdot)^+(⋅)+ is ENNReal.ofReal. For the universally measurable functions and sets that occur, lower integrals and outer measures agree with the completion of μ\muμ, which is the paper's reading (p. 4). No Bochner integral is used.
  • The threshold 1/λ∗1/\lambda^*1/λ∗ is written in multiplied form: c(x,A)≤1/λ∗c(x,A) \le 1/\lambda^*c(x,A)≤1/λ∗ is λ∗c(x,A)≤1\lambda^* c(x,A) \le 1λ∗c(x,A)≤1, and likewise for the strict inequality and for the sets CnC_nCn​. For λ∗>0\lambda^* > 0λ∗>0 this is the printed condition; at λ∗=0\lambda^* = 0λ∗=0 it is the whole space, the paper's convention 1/0=∞1/0 = \infty1/0=∞.
  • dcd_cdc​ fixes both marginals; Φμ,δ\Phi_{\mu,\delta}Φμ,δ​ fixes only the first.
  • c(x,A)c(x,A)c(x,A) is a real infimum over the subtype AAA; every statement assumes AAA nonempty.
  • "λ∗\lambda^*λ∗ attains the infimum in (13)" is λ∗≥0\lambda^* \ge 0λ∗≥0 and g(λ∗)≤g(λ)g(\lambda^*) \le g(\lambda)g(λ∗)≤g(λ) for all λ≥0\lambda \ge 0λ≥0.
  • Inequalities X≥I−tX \ge I - tX≥I−t are written I≤X+tI \le X + tI≤X+t in [0,∞][0,\infty][0,∞]; sequences "n>1n > 1n>1" are indexed by n∈Nn \in \mathbb Nn∈N with 1<n1 < n1<n.

A formalization in which the transport ball fixes only the first marginal would contain every probability measure and give I=1I = 1I=1 for every nonempty AAA; the definitions here fix both marginals of the couplings in dcd_cdc​, and the hypothesis c‾=c‾\underline c = \overline cc​=c is kept as stated rather than replaced by continuity of u↦∫{c(x,A)≤u}c(x,A) dμu \mapsto \int_{\{c(x,A) \le u\}} c(x,A)\,d\muu↦∫{c(x,A)≤u}​c(x,A)dμ.

A complete development needs the existence of optimal couplings for lower semicontinuous costs (tightness and Prokhorov's theorem, available in Mathlib), the strong duality of the paper's Theorem 1 specialized to indicators (milestone 3; a separate mission in this series formalizes Theorem 1 in general), and universal measurability of c(⋅,A)c(\cdot,A)c(⋅,A) through projections of Borel sets. The transport-cost definitions and the coupling reformulation are reusable beyond this mission. Proofs of any milestone are welcome, as are proofs that derive (13) from the general strong duality once that is published.

Selected references

  • J. Blanchet, K. Murthy, Quantifying Distributional Model Risk via Optimal Transport, arXiv:1604.01446v2, 2017; Mathematics of Operations Research 44(2):565–600, 2019. https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.01446, https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.2018.0936
  • C. Villani, Optimal Transport: Old and New, Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften 338, Springer, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71050-9
  • R. Gao, A. Kleywegt, Distributionally Robust Stochastic Optimization with Wasserstein Distance, arXiv:1604.02199, 2016. https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.02199
  • P. Mohajerin Esfahani, D. Kuhn, Data-driven distributionally robust optimization using the Wasserstein metric, Mathematical Programming 171:115–166, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-017-1172-1
  • D. P. Bertsekas, S. E. Shreve, Stochastic Optimal Control: The Discrete-Time Case, Academic Press, 1978 (universal measurability, Ch. 7).
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CombinatoricsOperations ResearchTheoretical Computer Science·Captain: mikedeng1

On the Approximability of Single-Machine Scheduling with Precedence Constraints 2: Every Convex Bipartite Order Has a Realizer of Size 3Research Paper

Motivation

The single-machine scheduling problem 1∣prec∣∑wjCj1|\mathrm{prec}|\sum w_j C_j1∣prec∣∑wj​Cj​ asks for an order in which to process nnn jobs, each with a processing time and a weight, on one machine, respecting a partial order of precedence constraints, so that the weighted sum of completion times is as small as possible. It is NP-hard, and the best known approximation ratio for general precedence constraints is 222. Ambühl, Mastrolilli, Mutsanas and Svensson (Math. Oper. Res. 36(4), 2011) relate the problem to the dimension theory of partial orders: their Theorem 3.2 states that when the precedence constraints are given together with a realizer of size kkk, the problem has a (2−2/k)(2 - 2/k)(2−2/k)-approximation algorithm. Small realizers of structured precedence orders therefore translate directly into better approximation ratios.

This mission formalizes one such structural result, Lemma 4.1 of the paper: every convex bipartite order has a realizer of size 333. Convex bipartite orders form a class of precedence constraints that lies strictly between strong bipartite orders and general bipartite orders (Möhring, 1989). Combined with Theorem 3.2, the lemma gives a 4/34/34/3-approximation for 1∣prec∣∑wjCj1|\mathrm{prec}|\sum w_j C_j1∣prec∣∑wj​Cj​ on this class. According to the authors, the bound dim⁡≤3\dim \le 3dim≤3 for convex bipartite orders had not been known before.

Setting

A poset is a set NNN with a reflexive, antisymmetric, transitive relation PPP. Two elements x,yx, yx,y are incomparable, written x∥yx \parallel yx∥y, when neither (x,y)∈P(x,y) \in P(x,y)∈P nor (y,x)∈P(y,x) \in P(y,x)∈P; the set of incomparable pairs is inc(P)\mathrm{inc}(P)inc(P). A linear extension of PPP is a linear order LLL on NNN with P⊆LP \subseteq LP⊆L. A linear order LLL reverses the pair (x,y)(x,y)(x,y) when y<xy < xy<x in LLL. A realizer of size ttt is a family L1,…,LtL_1, \dots, L_tL1​,…,Lt​ of linear extensions of PPP such that every incomparable pair (x,y)(x,y)(x,y) is reversed by at least one LiL_iLi​. The dimension dim⁡(P)\dim(P)dim(P) is the least ttt for which a realizer of size ttt exists.

A convex bipartite order has jobs N=J−∪J+N = J^- \cup J^+N=J−∪J+ split into minus jobs J−={j1,…,ja}J^- = \{j_1, \dots, j_a\}J−={j1​,…,ja​} and plus jobs J+={ja+1,…,jn}J^+ = \{j_{a+1}, \dots, j_n\}J+={ja+1​,…,jn​}. Each plus job jkj_kjk​ carries two indices 1≤l(k)≤r(k)≤a1 \le l(k) \le r(k) \le a1≤l(k)≤r(k)≤a, and a minus job jij_iji​ precedes jkj_kjk​ exactly when l(k)≤i≤r(k)l(k) \le i \le r(k)l(k)≤i≤r(k). There are no other precedences: the predecessors of each plus job form a nonempty interval of consecutive minus jobs.

For the Appendix construction, the incomparable pairs are sorted into three sets E1,E2,E3E_1, E_2, E_3E1​,E2​,E3​ according to the kinds of the two jobs, the order of their indices and, for a pair (plus job jij_iji​, minus job jjj_jjj​), whether jjj_jjj​ precedes some plus job of larger index than iii. The sets Eˉm=Em∪P\bar E_m = E_m \cup PEˉm​=Em​∪P describe what the mmm-th linear order of the realizer must contain.

Formalization targets

Goal: Lemma 4.1

For every convex bipartite order (N,P):∃ L1,L2,L3 linear extensions of P with ∀(x,y)∈inc(P) ∃m: y<Lmx.\text{For every convex bipartite order } (N, P):\quad \exists\, L_1, L_2, L_3 \text{ linear extensions of } P \text{ with } \forall (x,y) \in \mathrm{inc}(P)\ \exists m:\ y <_{L_m} x .For every convex bipartite order (N,P):∃L1​,L2​,L3​ linear extensions of P with ∀(x,y)∈inc(P) ∃m: y<Lm​​x.

Equivalently, dim⁡(P)≤3\dim(P) \le 3dim(P)≤3. The goal holds for every numbering of the jobs and every choice of interval ends l,rl, rl,r.

Milestones

  • Lemma A.1. E1,E2,E3E_1, E_2, E_3E1​,E2​,E3​ partition inc(P)\mathrm{inc}(P)inc(P), and for each mmm, (x,y)∈Em(x,y) \in E_m(x,y)∈Em​ implies (y,x)∉Em(y,x) \notin E_m(y,x)∈/Em​.
  • Lemma A.2. Under the Appendix's numbering of the plus jobs (i<ji < ji<j implies l(i)≤l(j)l(i) \le l(j)l(i)≤l(j)), each Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​ is contained in a linear order on NNN.

Significance

The result. Lemma 4.1 places convex bipartite orders among the classes of precedence constraints for which 1∣prec∣∑wjCj1|\mathrm{prec}|\sum w_j C_j1∣prec∣∑wj​Cj​ has an approximation ratio strictly below 222, namely 4/34/34/3 through Theorem 3.2 of the paper. The bound is tight: a bipartite order has dimension 222 exactly when it is a strong bipartite order (Möhring), so the bound 333 cannot be lowered for the class of convex bipartite orders. Since dim⁡(P)=3\dim(P) = 3dim(P)=3 also gives χ(GP)=3\chi(G_P) = 3χ(GP​)=3 for the graph of incomparable pairs, a 333-realizer yields an optimal colouring of that graph.

Formalizing it. The result is proved in the paper, with a short case analysis in the Appendix. No machine-checked proof is known to exist. Mathlib has no dimension theory of posets: realizers, reversals of incomparable pairs and the construction of linear extensions containing a given acyclic relation have to be set up here. The definitions of realizer and linear extension are stated for an arbitrary relation and can be reused for other dimension bounds (interval orders, semiorders, the other missions of this series).

Difficulty

The three relations Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​ are not partial orders. Eˉ2\bar E_2Eˉ2​, for instance, is not transitive: with two minus jobs and one plus job j3j_3j3​ with l(3)=r(3)=2l(3) = r(3) = 2l(3)=r(3)=2, the pairs (j1,j2)∈E2(j_1, j_2) \in E_2(j1​,j2​)∈E2​ and (j2,j3)∈P(j_2, j_3) \in P(j2​,j3​)∈P are present but (j1,j3)(j_1, j_3)(j1​,j3​) lies in E1E_1E1​. The step that requires work is to show that each Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​ has no cycle, so that it extends to a linear order. For Eˉ2\bar E_2Eˉ2​ this depends on the convexity of the predecessor intervals and on the numbering of the plus jobs by their left ends: it is not a consequence of bipartiteness alone. The goal itself carries no numbering assumption, so any proof must also account for renumbering the plus jobs.

Formalization scope

All declarations live in the namespace SingleMachinePrec.ConvexBipartite.

  • Relations. A relation on NNN is a predicate N → N → Prop. Linear orders use Mathlib's unbundled class IsLinearOrder. A linear extension of PPP is a linear order LLL with P⊆LP \subseteq LP⊆L; LLL reverses (x,y)(x,y)(x,y) when L y xL\,y\,xLyx and y≠xy \ne xy=x. A realizer of size ttt is a function Fin t → N → N → Prop, so repeated members are allowed, as in the paper's multisets.
  • Convex bipartite orders. The jobs are the type Fin a ⊕ Fin b: Sum.inl i is the minus job ji+1j_{i+1}ji+1​, Sum.inr k the plus job ja+k+1j_{a+k+1}ja+k+1​, with indices starting at 000. The interval ends are maps l r : Fin b → Fin a with l k ≤ r k, and PPP is equality together with the pairs (minus iii, plus kkk) with l(k)≤i≤r(k)l(k) \le i \le r(k)l(k)≤i≤r(k). A file-level instance records that PPP is a partial order. Any convex bipartite order in the paper's sense is one of these after naming its jobs. The cases a=0a = 0a=0 and b=0b = 0b=0 are allowed.
  • E1,E2,E3E_1, E_2, E_3E1​,E2​,E3​. Each set is defined as "incomparable and satisfies the paper's case condition". In the plus–minus clauses, "k>ik > ik>i" compares plus indices, because kkk exceeds the index of a plus job.
  • Lemma A.2. "Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​ is an extension of PPP" is formalized as "there is a linear order containing Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​", which is what the paper's proof establishes (absence of cycles) and what its final paragraph uses. Reading it as "Eˉm\bar E_mEˉm​ is a partial order" would make the lemma false (see Difficulty). The Appendix's numbering assumption is the hypothesis Monotone l of this milestone only.
  • Algorithmic wording not formalized. The paper states Lemma 4.1 as "a realizer of size 3 can be computed in polynomial time". What is formalized is the existence of the realizer; the running time is not.

A trivializing formalization would let the members of the realizer be arbitrary relations, which makes reversing every pair free. Here every member must be a linear order containing PPP.

Contributions welcome: proofs of the two milestones and of the goal; a general lemma that a relation whose transitive closure is antisymmetric extends to a linear order on a finite type; and the renumbering argument that removes the numbering assumption.

Selected references

  • C. Ambühl, M. Mastrolilli, N. Mutsanas, O. Svensson, On the Approximability of Single-Machine Scheduling with Precedence Constraints, Mathematics of Operations Research 36(4):653–669, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.1110.0512
  • G. R. Brightwell, E. R. Scheinerman, Fractional dimension of partial orders, Order 9(2):139–158, 1992.
  • R. H. Möhring, Computationally tractable classes of ordered sets, in I. Rival (ed.), Algorithms and Order, NATO ASI Series 255, Kluwer, 1989, pp. 105–193.
  • W. T. Trotter, Combinatorics and Partially Ordered Sets: Dimension Theory, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
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Algebraic GeometryDifferential GeometryLinear Optimization+2·Captain: mikedeng1

Log-Barrier Interior Point Methods Are Not Strongly Polynomial 2: The Total Curvature of the Central Path of LW_r(t) Exceeds (2^(r−2) − 1)π/2 − ε for All Large tResearch Paper

Motivation: curvature of the central path as a complexity measure

Path-following interior point methods solve a linear program by tracking its central path, a smooth curve that runs through the interior of the feasible set and ends at an optimal solution. Their number of iterations is polynomial in the bit size of the input, and whether some interior point method is strongly polynomial (bounded by a polynomial in the number of variables and constraints alone) is open. Bayer and Lagarias called the central path "a fundamental mathematical object underlying Karmarkar's algorithm". Dedieu and Shub proposed its total curvature as an informal complexity measure: a path that turns little should be easy to follow with straight steps. Several results bound that curvature:

  • 2005. Dedieu and Shub conjecture that the total curvature of the central path is bounded linearly in the dimension. Dedieu, Malajovich and Shub prove an O(n)O(n)O(n) bound on average over the regions of a hyperplane arrangement. De Loera, Sturmfels and Vinzant later obtain the same averaged bound with matroid methods (arXiv:1012.3978).
  • 2008–2009. Deza, Terlaky and Zinchenko build redundant Klee–Minty cubes and "snakes" with curvature Ω(m)\Omega(m)Ω(m) for mmm inequalities, which refutes the dimension version. They then conjecture the continuous analogue of the Hirsch conjecture: the total curvature is bounded linearly in the number of constraints.
  • 2014–2017. Allamigeon, Benchimol, Gaubert and Joswig disprove that conjecture with a family of linear programs whose central paths have curvature exponential in the number of constraints. The bound first appeared in arXiv:1405.4161 and was given an elementary tropical proof in arXiv:1708.01544v2, Theorem 25, which is the result of this mission.

Setting

A linear program in slack form has a real m×nm\times nm×n matrix AAA, b∈Rmb\in\mathbb R^mb∈Rm, c∈Rnc\in\mathbb R^nc∈Rn and N:=n+mN:=n+mN:=n+m:

LP(A,b,c): min⁡ ⟨c,x⟩  s.t. Ax+w=b, (x,w)≥0,DualLP(A,b,c): s−A⊤y=c, (s,y)≥0.\mathrm{LP}(A,b,c):\ \min\ \langle c,x\rangle\ \text{ s.t. } Ax+w=b,\ (x,w)\ge0,\qquad \mathrm{DualLP}(A,b,c):\ s-A^\top y=c,\ (s,y)\ge0 .LP(A,b,c): min ⟨c,x⟩  s.t. Ax+w=b, (x,w)≥0,DualLP(A,b,c): s−A⊤y=c, (s,y)≥0.

For μ>0\mu>0μ>0 the point of the central path (xμ,wμ,sμ,yμ)∈R2N(x^\mu,w^\mu,s^\mu,y^\mu)\in\mathbb R^{2N}(xμ,wμ,sμ,yμ)∈R2N is the unique solution of

Ax+w=b,s−A⊤y=c,xjsj=μ,wiyi=μ,x,w,s,y>0.(1)Ax+w=b,\quad s-A^\top y=c,\quad x_js_j=\mu,\quad w_iy_i=\mu,\quad x,w,s,y>0. \tag{1}Ax+w=b,s−A⊤y=c,xj​sj​=μ,wi​yi​=μ,x,w,s,y>0.(1)

The primal central path is μ↦(xμ,wμ)∈RN\mu\mapsto(x^\mu,w^\mu)\in\mathbb R^Nμ↦(xμ,wμ)∈RN.

For r≥1r\ge1r≥1 and t>0t>0t>0, the program LWr(t)\mathbf{LW}_r(t)LWr​(t) minimizes x1x_1x1​ over x∈R2rx\in\mathbb R^{2r}x∈R2r subject to

x1≤t2,x2≤t,x2j+1≤t x2j−1,x2j+1≤t x2j,x2j+2≤t1−1/2j(x2j−1+x2j)  (1≤j<r),x≥0.x_1\le t^2,\quad x_2\le t,\quad x_{2j+1}\le t\,x_{2j-1},\quad x_{2j+1}\le t\,x_{2j},\quad x_{2j+2}\le t^{1-1/2^j}(x_{2j-1}+x_{2j})\ \ (1\le j<r),\quad x\ge0 .x1​≤t2,x2​≤t,x2j+1​≤tx2j−1​,x2j+1​≤tx2j​,x2j+2​≤t1−1/2j(x2j−1​+x2j​)  (1≤j<r),x≥0.

With slacks w1,…,w3r−1w_1,\dots,w_{3r-1}w1​,…,w3r−1​ it becomes LWr=(t)=LP(A,b,c)\mathbf{LW}^=_r(t)=\mathrm{LP}(A,b,c)LWr=​(t)=LP(A,b,c) with n=2rn=2rn=2r, m=3r−1m=3r-1m=3r−1, N=5r−1N=5r-1N=5r−1.

For points U,V,WU,V,WU,V,W of Euclidean space with U≠V≠WU\ne V\ne WU=V=W, the turning angle ∠UVW∈[0,π]\angle UVW\in[0,\pi]∠UVW∈[0,π] is the angle between the vectors V−UV-UV−U and W−VW-VW−V. For a curve σ\sigmaσ parameterized over I⊆RI\subseteq\mathbb RI⊆R, the total curvature is

κ(σ,I)=sup⁡{∑k=1p−1∠ σ(μk−1)σ(μk)σ(μk+1) : μ0<⋯<μp in I}∈[0,+∞].\kappa(\sigma,I)=\sup\Big\{\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\angle\,\sigma(\mu_{k-1})\sigma(\mu_k)\sigma(\mu_{k+1})\ :\ \mu_0<\dots<\mu_p\ \text{in } I\Big\}\in[0,+\infty].κ(σ,I)=sup{k=1∑p−1​∠σ(μk−1​)σ(μk​)σ(μk+1​) : μ0​<⋯<μp​ in I}∈[0,+∞].

The milestones also use the field K\mathbb KK of absolutely convergent generalized real Puiseux series ∑α∈Raαtα\sum_{\alpha\in\mathbb R}a_\alpha t^\alpha∑α∈R​aα​tα. Such a series can be evaluated at large real ttt, and it has a valuation val∈T=R∪{−∞}\mathrm{val}\in\mathbb T=\mathbb R\cup\{-\infty\}val∈T=R∪{−∞}, its leading exponent. Read over K\mathbb KK, LWr\mathbf{LW}_rLWr​ is one linear program. The valuation of its central path at μ=tλ\mu=t^\lambdaμ=tλ is the tropical central path Ctrop(λ)∈R2N\mathcal C^{\mathrm{trop}}(\lambda)\in\mathbb R^{2N}Ctrop(λ)∈R2N, a piecewise-linear curve with an explicit recursive description (Propositions 20–21 of the paper).

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 25

For every r≥1r\ge1r≥1 and ϵ>0\epsilon>0ϵ>0 there is t0t_0t0​ such that for all t>t0t>t_0t>t0​,

κ(μ↦(xμ,wμ),(0,∞))>(2r−2−1)π2−ϵandκ(μ↦(xμ,wμ,sμ,yμ),(0,∞))>(2r−2−1)π2−ϵ\kappa\big(\mu\mapsto(x^\mu,w^\mu),(0,\infty)\big)>\big(2^{r-2}-1\big)\tfrac\pi2-\epsilon\quad\text{and}\quad\kappa\big(\mu\mapsto(x^\mu,w^\mu,s^\mu,y^\mu),(0,\infty)\big)>\big(2^{r-2}-1\big)\tfrac\pi2-\epsilonκ(μ↦(xμ,wμ),(0,∞))>(2r−2−1)2π​−ϵandκ(μ↦(xμ,wμ,sμ,yμ),(0,∞))>(2r−2−1)2π​−ϵ

for the central path of LWr=(t)\mathbf{LW}^=_r(t)LWr=​(t). Here t0t_0t0​ may depend on rrr and ϵ\epsilonϵ. Both the primal and the primal-dual curves are part of the goal, as in the paper.

Milestones, in the order of the paper's argument

  1. Lemma 22: for non-null x,y∈Kd\mathbf x,\mathbf y\in\mathbb K^dx,y∈Kd, the angle ∠x(t)y(t)\angle\mathbf x(t)\mathbf y(t)∠x(t)y(t) has a limit, which is π/2\pi/2π/2 when the arg maxes of val x\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf xvalx and val y\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf yvaly are disjoint.
  2. Lemma 23: the turning angle ∠U(t)V(t)W(t)→π/2\angle\mathbf U(t)\mathbf V(t)\mathbf W(t)\to\pi/2∠U(t)V(t)W(t)→π/2 when max⁡val U<max⁡val V<max⁡val W\max\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf U<\max\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf V<\max\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf WmaxvalU<maxvalV<maxvalW and the arg maxes of val V\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf VvalV and val W\mathrm{val}\,\mathbf WvalW are disjoint.
  3. Proposition 24: lim inf⁡tκ(Ct,[tλ0,tλp])≥∑k=1p−1∠∗Ctrop(λk−1)Ctrop(λk)Ctrop(λk+1)\liminf_{t}\kappa(\mathcal C_t,[t^{\lambda_0},t^{\lambda_p}])\ge\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\angle^*\mathcal C^{\mathrm{trop}}(\lambda_{k-1})\mathcal C^{\mathrm{trop}}(\lambda_k)\mathcal C^{\mathrm{trop}}(\lambda_{k+1})liminft​κ(Ct​,[tλ0​,tλp​])≥∑k=1p−1​∠∗Ctrop(λk−1​)Ctrop(λk​)Ctrop(λk+1​), where ∠∗\angle^*∠∗ is the weak tropical angle (π/2\pi/2π/2 under the conditions of Lemma 23, else 000).
  4. Table 1: the coordinates of the tropical central path of LWr\mathbf{LW}_rLWr​ at λ=(4k+2c)/2j\lambda=(4k+2c)/2^jλ=(4k+2c)/2j.
  5. Claims in the proof of Theorem 25 (p. 23): on [0,2][0,2][0,2] the dual coordinates of Ctrop\mathcal C^{\mathrm{trop}}Ctrop are at most max⁡(0,λ−1)\max(0,\lambda-1)max(0,λ−1). At λk=4k/2r−1\lambda_k=4k/2^{r-1}λk​=4k/2r−1 the largest coordinate is r−1+(2k+2)/2r−1r-1+(2k+2)/2^{r-1}r−1+(2k+2)/2r−1, attained only by w3(r−1)w_{3(r-1)}w3(r−1)​ or w3(r−1)+1w_{3(r-1)+1}w3(r−1)+1​. Hence ∠∗=π/2\angle^*=\pi/2∠∗=π/2 at each interior subdivision point.

Significance

The theorem shows that the total curvature of the central path is not bounded by any polynomial in the number of constraints: LWr\mathbf{LW}_rLWr​ has 3r+13r+13r+1 constraints and curvature at least about 2r−2π/22^{r-2}\pi/22r−2π/2. This settles the conjecture of Deza, Terlaky and Zinchenko in the negative. It also shows that the averaged upper bounds of Dedieu–Malajovich–Shub and De Loera–Sturmfels–Vinzant cannot hold for every region. A companion mission of this series formalizes the paper's second main result, an exponential lower bound on the number of iterations of log-barrier path-following methods on the same family.

The result is proved on paper. As far as is known, it has not been formalized in any proof assistant, and Mathlib has no notion of the total curvature of a curve, of Puiseux-series evaluation and valuation, or of the tropical central path. Formalizing the theorem would give a machine-checked reference point for a much-cited negative result in interior point theory. The Lean definitions of total curvature and of the turning angle are general and reusable.

Difficulty

The total curvature is a supremum over inscribed polygons, and a lower bound needs explicit polygons whose angles can be estimated for every large ttt. The central path of LWr=(t)\mathbf{LW}^=_r(t)LWr=​(t) has no closed form, so its points cannot be written down at given parameters μ\muμ. Numerical evidence at a fixed ttt says nothing uniform in rrr. The natural first idea, to compute the path's angles directly from system (1) for a fixed instance, gives no handle on how the number of turns grows with rrr. What is needed is control of the path's geometry uniformly over the whole scale of ttt, with 2r−22^{r-2}2r−2 turns located at once, and the threshold t0t_0t0​ is not explicit.

Formalization scope

Vectors in which angles are measured are EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin d). The turning angle is InnerProductGeometry.angle (V - U) (W - V), not Mathlib's vertex angle ∠ U V W, which is π\piπ minus it. A degenerate triple (U=VU=VU=V or V=WV=WV=W) contributes angle 000. Total curvature is an EReal-valued supremum over strictly increasing parameter sequences in the parameter set, and the goal uses the set (0,∞)(0,\infty)(0,∞). The primal and primal-dual curves are the vectors (x,w)∈R5r−1(x,w)\in\mathbb R^{5r-1}(x,w)∈R5r−1 and (x,w,s,y)∈R2(5r−1)(x,w,s,y)\in\mathbb R^{2(5r-1)}(x,w,s,y)∈R2(5r−1). System (1) is the published Vanderbei central-path system with objective −c-c−c. The goal quantifies over every curve solving (1) for all μ>0\mu>0μ>0. Existence and uniqueness of that curve is the referenced platform statement VanderbeiLP.CentralPath.central_path_exists_unique and is not posed again. Indices are the paper's, 1-based, mapped to Fin by subtracting one. Powers 2r−22^{r-2}2r−2 use integer exponents of the real number 222.

A trivializing formalization is ruled out explicitly: the curvature is a supremum in EReal (a real sSup of an unbounded set would be 000), the turning angle is not the vertex angle, and degenerate polygons cannot add spurious right angles.

Lemmas 22–24 are stated over a model of K\mathbb KK by coefficient functions with the paper's support and absolute-convergence conditions. Equalities, products and order in K\mathbb KK are expressed through evaluation at all sufficiently large ttt, which is how the paper characterizes them. Table 1 and the claims of the proof are stated for the explicit tropical central path of LWr\mathbf{LW}_rLWr​ given by Propositions 20–21 (milestones of the companion mission), written as a definition here. One repair: the paper's "uniquely attained" claim fails at r=2r=2r=2, k=0k=0k=0, where w1=w4=2w_1=w_4=2w1​=w4​=2. It is stated with that case excluded, which the proof does not use.

Welcome contributions: a general theory of total curvature of curves (monotonicity under refinement, behaviour under limits), asymptotics of evaluated Puiseux series, and the comparison between the central path over K\mathbb KK and its real specializations.

Selected references

  • X. Allamigeon, P. Benchimol, S. Gaubert, M. Joswig, Log-Barrier Interior Point Methods Are Not Strongly Polynomial, SIAM J. Appl. Algebra Geom. 2(1), 2018; preprint v2 (cited throughout) arXiv:1708.01544, doi:10.1137/17M1142132.
  • X. Allamigeon, P. Benchimol, S. Gaubert, M. Joswig, Long and winding central paths, preprint, 2014. arXiv:1405.4161
  • J. A. De Loera, B. Sturmfels, C. Vinzant, The central curve in linear programming, Found. Comput. Math. 12(4), 2012. arXiv:1012.3978
  • J.-P. Dedieu, G. Malajovich, M. Shub, On the curvature of the central path of linear programming theory, Found. Comput. Math. 5(2), 2005.
  • J.-P. Dedieu, M. Shub, Newton flow and interior point methods in linear programming, Int. J. Bifurcation and Chaos 15(3), 2005.
  • A. Deza, T. Terlaky, Y. Zinchenko, Central path curvature and iteration-complexity for redundant Klee–Minty cubes, in Advances in Applied Mathematics and Global Optimization, Springer, 2009.
  • L. van den Dries, P. Speissegger, The real field with convergent generalized power series, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 350(11), 1998.
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🏆Completed
Functional Analysis·Captain: moona3k

Sharp diagonal Hlawka constants: lower the cutoff to 87Open Problem

This completed entry lowers the sufficient exponent cutoff for the sharp diagonal Hlawka formula from 90 to 87. The goal is already proved in Lean on Prove2Me: for every real p ≥ 87, the foundation's cyclic constant K_p is the least constant that works for every triple of complex coordinate vectors in every finite dimension.

The statement includes arbitrary unequal-norm and zero triples, as well as dimension zero. It uses the foundation's unchanged definitions and combines admissibility with uniform optimality. This concerns complex diagonal matrices; it does not claim the corresponding result for general matrices or settle the conjecture for all p ≥ 2.

Proved goal and supporting result

  • Sharp complex coordinate Hlawka constant for p ≥ 87: the goal, already Proved.
  • The real coordinate Hlawka bound for p ≥ 87: the supporting milestone, already Proved.

The campaign template is instantiated with value 87. Both items reference the existing accepted theorems.

Proof route and attribution

The proof extends the accepted cutoff-90 Lean development by BrunoDCDO, adapting Ezzeri Esa's construction and analytic argument. The contributions at cutoffs 89, 88 and 87 were submitted by moona3k.

For p ≥ 88, the proof uses the accepted cutoff-88 result. On 87 ≤ p ≤ 88, it retains the localization, box-convexity and cyclic-averaging argument, with confinement parameter q₀ = 5351/15000, an improved cyclic witness (3/(4p))^(1/p), sharper Taylor estimates and exact rational polynomial certificates.

Campaign context

The foundation established cutoff 256; the supplied argument was formalized at cutoff 90. The subsequent accepted results extend the same formula to cutoffs 89, 88 and 87. This entry records the proved cutoff 87 on the campaign timeline; the campaign's cutoff-85 mission remains open.

  • Sharp diagonal Hlawka campaign
  • Foundation and proved cutoff 256
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🏆Completed
Functional Analysis·Captain: savarin

Sharp diagonal Hlawka constants: lower the cutoff to 85Open Problem

The Hlawka inequality for Schatten ppp-norms is a cousin of the triangle inequality: it relates the norms of three matrices to the norms of their pairwise sums and their total sum. The question is how large a comparison constant is needed to make this inequality hold.

This mission asks whether the best possible constant for complex diagonal matrices, already proved in Lean for every real p≥87p\ge87p≥87, also holds for every real p≥85p\ge85p≥85. This is an open problem: no proof is known. The constant is the one from the foundation mission: the largest comparison constant required by the cyclic family of three 3×33\times33×3 diagonal matrices. Because the accepted cutoff-87 theorem already covers every p≥87p\ge87p≥87, the new work is the range from 85 to 87.

The cutoff came down from 90 to 87 in a day, through moona3k's proofs at 89, 88 and 87. The 89 proof reran the cutoff-90 argument with sharper, second-order estimates. A numerical model of that argument with retuned constants puts its limit between about 86.6 and 87.5: two of its steps pull the same parameter in opposite directions, and below that point no setting satisfies both. So reaching 85 is expected to need a new idea, not just tighter numbers. The goal theorem below gives the exact statement.

This is an entry in the sharp diagonal Hlawka campaign, which asks for the smallest cutoff at which the same formula holds. Any proof for a cutoff of 85 or lower also settles this mission.

The broader question of optimal constants for Schatten norms appears in Audenaert and Kittaneh’s Problem 7. Extending the sharp diagonal constant to general matrices is a separate challenge.

References

  • K. M. R. Audenaert and F. Kittaneh, Problems and Conjectures in Matrix and Operator Inequalities, arXiv preprint, 2012, §8.2, Problem 7. arXiv:1201.5232
  • Ezzeri Esa, Hlawka–Schatten inequalities: sharp diagonal construction, Lean source repository, 2026, revision 79aa498bfcf7b22bd91d771fb32ec278e2d4704b. Source library
  • Ezzeri Esa and project contributors, The cyclic bound for every real p ≥ 90, research note with appendices and exact certificates, 2026. Research note

Established results on Prove2Me

  • The accepted sharp diagonal bound for every real p ≥ 87.
  • The accepted real coordinate bound for every real p ≥ 87.
  • The accepted diagonal Schatten norm identity.
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Linear OptimizationOperations ResearchStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Maximum Pressure Policies in Stochastic Processing Networks IV: In Reversed Leontief Networks Extreme Allocations Are Integral and Maximum Pressure Separates by ProcessorResearch Paper

Motivation

Maximum pressure policies schedule a stochastic processing network by choosing, at each decision time, an allocation of processors to activities that maximizes a linear "pressure" built from the current buffer levels and the network's input-output matrix. Dai and Lin (Oper. Res. 53(2), 2005) prove that such policies are throughput optimal: they stabilize the network whenever any policy can. The policies descend from the back-pressure rule of Tassiulas and Ephremides (IEEE TAC 37(12), 1992) for wireless networks and are now standard in switching, manufacturing and data-center scheduling.

The general theory lets a processor split its capacity among several activities at once. In many systems this is impossible: a machine works on one job type at a time. Section 7 of the paper shows that with this restriction Harrison's static planning LP no longer characterizes stability, and Section 8 shows that forbidding preemption can make a maximum pressure policy unstable. Both difficulties disappear for one structural class, the reversed Leontief networks, in which every activity needs exactly one processor. This mission formalizes the two lemmas that make that class work: extreme allocations are integral (Lemma 1), and a maximum pressure allocation is found processor by processor (Lemma 3).

Setting

A network has buffers 0,1,…,I0,1,\dots,I0,1,…,I, where Buffer 000 is the outside world and I={1,…,I}\mathcal I=\{1,\dots,I\}I={1,…,I} are the internal buffers; activities J={1,…,J}\mathcal J=\{1,\dots,J\}J={1,…,J}; and processors K={1,…,K}\mathcal K=\{1,\dots,K\}K={1,…,K}. The resource consumption matrix AAA has Akj=1A_{kj}=1Akj​=1 if activity jjj requires processor kkk and 000 otherwise. The constituency indicator Bji=1B_{ji}=1Bji​=1 records that activity jjj processes buffer iii. An input activity processes only Buffer 000; a service activity never processes Buffer 000. Each processor runs input activities only (an input processor) or service activities only (a service processor). Each activity jjj has a mean processing requirement mjm_jmj​, rate μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​, and a routing matrix PjP^jPj.

The input-output matrix is

Rij=μj(Bji−∑i′∈I∪{0}Bji′Pi′ij),i∈I, j∈J.R_{ij}=\mu_j\Big(B_{ji}-\sum_{i'\in\mathcal I\cup\{0\}}B_{ji'}P^j_{i'i}\Big),\qquad i\in\mathcal I,\ j\in\mathcal J.Rij​=μj​(Bji​−i′∈I∪{0}∑​Bji′​Pi′ij​),i∈I, j∈J.

An allocation is a∈R+Ja\in\mathbb R^J_+a∈R+J​ with ∑jAkjaj≤1\sum_j A_{kj}a_j\le1∑j​Akj​aj​≤1 for every processor and ∑jAkjaj=1\sum_j A_{kj}a_j=1∑j​Akj​aj​=1 for every input processor; A\mathcal AA is the set of allocations, E\mathcal EE its set of extreme points, and N⊆A\mathcal N\subseteq\mathcal AN⊆A the allocations with integer coordinates. For a buffer-level vector z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​, the network pressure is p(a,z)=z⋅Rap(a,z)=z\cdot Rap(a,z)=z⋅Ra and the activity pressure is p(j,z)=∑i∈IRijzip(j,z)=\sum_{i\in\mathcal I}R_{ij}z_ip(j,z)=∑i∈I​Rij​zi​, with p(0,z)=0p(0,z)=0p(0,z)=0 for the idle Activity 000.

The network is reversed Leontief if each activity requires exactly one processor. The possible activities of processor kkk are J(k)={j:Akj=1}\mathcal J(k)=\{j:A_{kj}=1\}J(k)={j:Akj​=1} for an input processor and J(k)={0}∪{j:Akj=1}\mathcal J(k)=\{0\}\cup\{j:A_{kj}=1\}J(k)={0}∪{j:Akj​=1} for a service processor. Under an integer allocation aaa, jk(a)j_k(a)jk​(a) is the activity processor kkk works on, or 000 if kkk is idle.

Formalization targets

Goal: Lemma 3 (p. 208)

For a reversed Leontief network, z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​ and a∈Ea\in\mathcal Ea∈E,

p(a,z)=max⁡a′∈Ep(a′,z)  ⟺  jk(a)∈arg max⁡j∈J(k)p(j,z)  for all k∈K.p(a,z)=\max_{a'\in\mathcal E}p(a',z)\iff j_k(a)\in\operatorname*{arg\,max}_{j\in\mathcal J(k)}p(j,z)\ \text{ for all }k\in\mathcal K.p(a,z)=a′∈Emax​p(a′,z)⟺jk​(a)∈j∈J(k)argmax​p(j,z)  for all k∈K.

Milestones

  • the pressure identity p(a,z)=∑jaj p(j,z)p(a,z)=\sum_j a_j\,p(j,z)p(a,z)=∑j​aj​p(j,z) (§8, p. 208);
  • N⊆E\mathcal N\subseteq\mathcal EN⊆E (proof of Lemma 1, p. 215);
  • Lemma 1 (p. 207): for a reversed Leontief network, E=N\mathcal E=\mathcal NE=N;
  • for a∈Ea\in\mathcal Ea∈E: jk(a)∈J(k)j_k(a)\in\mathcal J(k)jk​(a)∈J(k) and p(a,z)=∑kp(jk(a),z)p(a,z)=\sum_k p(j_k(a),z)p(a,z)=∑k​p(jk​(a),z) (proof of Lemma 3);
  • the single-processor exchange a~=a−ejk(a)+ej\tilde a=a-e_{j_k(a)}+e_ja~=a−ejk​(a)​+ej​ stays in E\mathcal EE and shifts the pressure by p(j,z)−p(jk(a),z)p(j,z)-p(j_k(a),z)p(j,z)−p(jk​(a),z) (proof of Lemma 3).

A further supporting item, not a milestone, states the decomposition a=∑j∈J(k~)ajbja=\sum_{j\in\mathcal J(\tilde k)}a_j b^ja=∑j∈J(k~)​aj​bj of an allocation along one processor (proof of Lemma 1, p. 215).

Significance

The result. Lemma 1 says that, in a reversed Leontief network, the maximum pressure policies of the processor-splitting theory are automatically non-processor-splitting, so the paper's throughput optimality theorem holds in the setting where machines cannot be shared. Lemma 3 says that the maximization over the (exponentially large) set E\mathcal EE decouples into one small maximization per processor: each processor picks an activity of largest activity pressure among its own options. This separability is what makes the nonpreemptive version of the policy well defined and is the key step towards Theorem 9 (throughput optimality of nonpreemptive maximum pressure policies). It also covers multiclass queueing networks with alternate routes (§9.1), which are reversed Leontief.

Formalizing it. Both lemmas are proved in the paper; to our knowledge neither is machine-checked. The mission produces a reusable Lean model of the allocation polytope of a processing network with input processors, its integer and extreme points, and the activity and network pressures. The integrality of E\mathcal EE is a total-unimodularity-type fact for a block structure that is not available in Mathlib in this form.

Difficulty

The pressure is linear, so maximizing over E\mathcal EE equals maximizing over A\mathcal AA; the substance is the description of E\mathcal EE. The polytope A\mathcal AA is not a box: input processors carry equality constraints and service processors inequality constraints, and in general networks (an activity needing several processors) E\mathcal EE contains fractional points, as the paper's example in §7 shows. The step that fails for general networks is the decomposition of a fractional allocation along a single processor: it needs every activity of that processor to use no other processor. In Lean, extreme points must be handled through Mathlib's Set.extremePoints, and the argmax over J(k)\mathcal J(k)J(k) must keep track of the idle option, which exists for service processors and not for input processors.

Formalization scope

Indices are 0-based: internal buffers Fin I, buffers with Buffer 000 Fin (I+1) (Buffer 000 is 0, internal buffer iii is i.succ), activities Fin J, processors Fin K. The idle Activity 000 is none : Option (Fin J), with activity pressure 000 and unit vector e0=0e_0=0e0​=0. E\mathcal EE is Set.extremePoints ℝ 𝒜. "Maximizes the pressure over E\mathcal EE" is stated by domination (p(a′,z)≤p(a,z)p(a',z)\le p(a,z)p(a′,z)≤p(a,z) for all a′∈Ea'\in\mathcal Ea′∈E), never through a supremum. jk(a)j_k(a)jk​(a) is defined by choice of an activity of kkk at level 111; it is used only for a∈Ea\in\mathcal Ea∈E, where it is unique.

The standing assumptions of §2 are carried as one hypothesis: AAA and BBB are 000–111, constituencies are nonempty, every activity is an input or service activity and needs a processor, processors are input-only or service-only, at least one input activity exists, Pj≥0P^j\ge0Pj≥0 and P00j=0P^j_{00}=0P00j​=0. Two disclosed additions: every input processor has at least one activity (otherwise (2) is infeasible and A=∅\mathcal A=\emptysetA=∅), and mj>0m_j>0mj​>0 (needed for μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​). The goal keeps z≥0z\ge0z≥0 as on the page; two milestones drop it, which strengthens them.

A trivializing formalization would make E\mathcal EE empty or give input processors an idle option; both are excluded: E\mathcal EE is the extreme-point set of the real polytope A\mathcal AA, which is nonempty for a reversed Leontief network under the standing assumptions, and the idle option belongs to J(k)\mathcal J(k)J(k) only for service processors, as in (60).

Contributions welcome: proofs of the milestones, a general lemma that 000–111 points of a subset of the unit cube are extreme, and the separable description of extreme points of products of simplices, which is reusable beyond this mission.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and W. Lin, Maximum pressure policies in stochastic processing networks, Operations Research 53(2):197–218, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.1040.0170
  • J. M. Harrison, Brownian models of open processing networks: canonical representation of workload, Annals of Applied Probability 10(1):75–103, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoap/1019737665
  • L. Tassiulas and A. Ephremides, Stability properties of constrained queueing systems and scheduling policies for maximum throughput in multihop radio networks, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 37(12):1936–1948, 1992. https://doi.org/10.1109/9.182479
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Convex OptimizationOperations ResearchOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Optimality and Duality Theory for Stochastic Optimization Problems with Nonlinear Dominance Constraints 2: With Finite Scenarios and Slater's Condition, Piecewise-Linear Utilities Are MultipliersResearch Paper

Motivation

Second-order stochastic dominance constraints let a decision maker require that a random outcome of a decision be preferred to a fixed benchmark outcome by every risk-averse expected-utility maximizer, without choosing a utility function in advance. Dentcheva and Ruszczyński introduced optimization under such constraints in Optimization with stochastic dominance constraints (SIAM J. Optim., 2003), for the case where the decision enters the outcome linearly (the pure-dominance case). Their follow-up paper, Optimality and duality theory for stochastic optimization problems with nonlinear dominance constraints (Math. Program., 2004), allows the decision to affect many random outcomes in a nonlinear, concave way, and derives optimality and duality theory in which the Lagrange multipliers of the dominance constraints are utility functions.

In applications (portfolio selection against a benchmark index is the paper's own example in §6) the probability space is a finite set of scenarios. Section 5 of the paper specialises the theory to that case. This mission formalizes that section: the reduction of the dominance constraints to finitely many inequalities, and the optimality and duality theorems (Theorems 6 and 7) in which the multipliers become piecewise-linear concave utilities.

Setting

There are nnn scenarios ω1,…,ωn\omega_1,\dots,\omega_nω1​,…,ωn​ with probabilities pj≥0p_j \ge 0pj​≥0, ∑jpj=1\sum_j p_j = 1∑j​pj​=1, and mmm benchmark constraints, indexed by i∈I={1,…,m}i \in I = \{1,\dots,m\}i∈I={1,…,m}; J={1,…,n}J = \{1,\dots,n\}J={1,…,n}. A decision zzz ranges over a convex set Z⊆RNZ \subseteq \mathbb R^NZ⊆RN. For each scenario jjj, hj:RN→Rh_j:\mathbb R^N\to\mathbb Rhj​:RN→R is the objective contribution and gij:RN→Rg_{ij}:\mathbb R^N\to\mathbb Rgij​:RN→R the iiith outcome, all concave. The benchmark YiY_iYi​ has realizations yijy_{ij}yij​. Write (t)+=max⁡(t,0)(t)_+=\max(t,0)(t)+​=max(t,0).

The second-order dominance of a finitely distributed XiX_iXi​ (realizations xijx_{ij}xij​) over YiY_iYi​ on an interval [ai,bi][a_i,b_i][ai​,bi​] reads

∑jpj(η−xij)+≤∑jpj(η−yij)+for all η∈[ai,bi].(36)\sum_{j} p_j(\eta - x_{ij})_+ \le \sum_j p_j(\eta-y_{ij})_+ \quad\text{for all } \eta\in[a_i,b_i]. \tag{36}j∑​pj​(η−xij​)+​≤j∑​pj​(η−yij​)+​for all η∈[ai​,bi​].(36)

The split-variable problem (38)–(41) is

max⁡∑j=1npjhj(z)s.t.∑jpj(yik−xij)+≤∑jpj(yik−yij)+,xik≤gik(z),z∈Z,\max \sum_{j=1}^n p_j h_j(z)\quad\text{s.t.}\quad \sum_{j} p_j(y_{ik}-x_{ij})_+ \le \sum_j p_j(y_{ik}-y_{ij})_+,\quad x_{ik}\le g_{ik}(z),\quad z\in Z,maxj=1∑n​pj​hj​(z)s.t.j∑​pj​(yik​−xij​)+​≤j∑​pj​(yik​−yij​)+​,xik​≤gik​(z),z∈Z,

for all i∈Ii\in Ii∈I, k∈Jk\in Jk∈J, over zzz and X=(xij)∈RmnX=(x_{ij})\in\mathbb R^{mn}X=(xij​)∈Rmn. The Slater condition asks for z~∈relint⁡Z\tilde z \in \operatorname{relint} Zz~∈relintZ and X~\tilde XX~ satisfying the dominance constraints (39) with x~ik<gik(z~)\tilde x_{ik} < g_{ik}(\tilde z)x~ik​<gik​(z~) for all i,ki,ki,k.

The utility set ViV_iVi​ consists of the functions u:R→Ru:\mathbb R\to\mathbb Ru:R→R that are concave, nondecreasing, piecewise linear with break points only at the yiky_{ik}yik​, and zero on [max⁡kyik,∞)[\max_k y_{ik},\infty)[maxk​yik​,∞). With θij≥0\theta_{ij}\ge 0θij​≥0 multipliers for the splitting constraints xij≤gij(z)x_{ij}\le g_{ij}(z)xij​≤gij​(z), the Lagrangian is

L(z,X,u,θ)=∑j=1npj[hj(z)+∑i=1mθijgij(z)]+∑i=1m∑j=1npj[ui(xij)−ui(yij)−θijxij].(42)L(z,X,u,\theta) = \sum_{j=1}^n p_j\Big[h_j(z)+\sum_{i=1}^m\theta_{ij}g_{ij}(z)\Big]+\sum_{i=1}^m\sum_{j=1}^n p_j\big[u_i(x_{ij})-u_i(y_{ij})-\theta_{ij}x_{ij}\big]. \tag{42}L(z,X,u,θ)=j=1∑n​pj​[hj​(z)+i=1∑m​θij​gij​(z)]+i=1∑m​j=1∑n​pj​[ui​(xij​)−ui​(yij​)−θij​xij​].(42)

Multipliers μik\mu_{ik}μik​ of the inequalities (39) generate the utility ui(t)=−∑kμik(yik−t)+u_i(t)=-\sum_k\mu_{ik}(y_{ik}-t)_+ui​(t)=−∑k​μik​(yik​−t)+​ (46). The dual functional is D(u,θ)=sup⁡z∈Z, XL(z,X,u,θ)D(u,\theta)=\sup_{z\in Z,\,X}L(z,X,u,\theta)D(u,θ)=supz∈Z,X​L(z,X,u,θ) (47).

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 6

Under the Slater condition, (z^,X^)(\hat z,\hat X)(z^,X^) optimal for (38)–(41) implies that there are u^i∈Vi\hat u_i\in V_iu^i​∈Vi​ and θ^≥0\hat\theta\ge 0θ^≥0 with

L(z^,X^,u^,θ^)=max⁡(z,X)∈Z×RmnL(z,X,u^,θ^),∑jpj[u^i(x^ij)−u^i(yij)]=0,θ^ij(x^ij−gij(z^))=0;L(\hat z,\hat X,\hat u,\hat\theta)=\max_{(z,X)\in Z\times\mathbb R^{mn}}L(z,X,\hat u,\hat\theta),\qquad \sum_j p_j[\hat u_i(\hat x_{ij})-\hat u_i(y_{ij})]=0,\qquad \hat\theta_{ij}(\hat x_{ij}-g_{ij}(\hat z))=0;L(z^,X^,u^,θ^)=(z,X)∈Z×Rmnmax​L(z,X,u^,θ^),j∑​pj​[u^i​(x^ij​)−u^i​(yij​)]=0,θ^ij​(x^ij​−gij​(z^))=0;

conversely, these conditions together with feasibility imply optimality.

Milestones

  1. Lemma 2 (p. 15): if ai≤yij≤bia_i\le y_{ij}\le b_iai​≤yij​≤bi​, then (36) is equivalent to the mnmnmn inequalities (37) at the realizations η=yik\eta=y_{ik}η=yik​, and also to (36) on the whole line.
  2. Eq. (46) (p. 17): for any μ\muμ, the standard Lagrangian Λ(z,X,μ,θ)\Lambda(z,X,\mu,\theta)Λ(z,X,μ,θ) equals L(z,X,u,θ)L(z,X,u,\theta)L(z,X,u,θ) with uuu given by (46).
  3. p. 18: for μi≥0\mu_i\ge0μi​≥0, the utility (46) lies in ViV_iVi​.
  4. pp. 16–17: under Slater, an optimal solution admits Kuhn–Tucker multipliers μ≥0\mu\ge0μ≥0, θ≥0\theta\ge0θ≥0 for (38)–(41) with complementarity.
  5. p. 18: every v∈Viv\in V_iv∈Vi​ is of the form (46) with μi≥0\mu_i\ge0μi​≥0.
  6. Theorem 7 (p. 18), after the goal: the dual problem min⁡{D(u,θ):u∈V1×⋯×Vm, θ≥0}\min\{D(u,\theta): u\in V_1\times\dots\times V_m,\ \theta\ge0\}min{D(u,θ):u∈V1​×⋯×Vm​, θ≥0} has a solution and no duality gap.

Significance

Theorem 6 says that, for finitely many scenarios, the infinite-dimensional multiplier of the general theory (a concave utility in a cone of functions, Theorem 2 of the paper) can always be taken piecewise linear with kinks exactly at the benchmark's realizations. The multiplier space becomes finite-dimensional, ViV_iVi​ is a polyhedral cone, and the dual problem of Theorem 7 is a finite-dimensional convex program. The paper's decomposition (49)–(51) of the dual functional and its numerical method in §6 rest on this. Lemma 2 is the standard reduction that makes dominance against a finitely distributed benchmark a finite set of polyhedral constraints, used throughout the later literature on dominance-constrained portfolio optimization.

The results are proved in the paper; none of them is formalized. The mission produces machine-checked statements of the finite-scenario theory, a Lean model of the utility set ViV_iVi​ and of the correspondence between nonnegative multipliers and piecewise-linear utilities, and a Kuhn–Tucker theorem for concave programs with polyhedral constraints and a relative-interior Slater point.

Difficulty

The obvious route to Theorem 6 is to invoke a Kuhn–Tucker theorem. The available formal versions require every inequality constraint to hold strictly at the Slater point and range over all of RN\mathbb R^NRN. Neither fits: the dominance constraint at the smallest realization yi,[1]y_{i,[1]}yi,[1]​ has right-hand side 000 and a nonnegative left-hand side, so it can never hold strictly, and ZZZ may be lower-dimensional (a simplex), so only its relative interior is available. The polyhedral structure of (39) must be used, as in Rockafellar's Theorem 28.2. The second obstacle is the converse direction of the multiplier–utility correspondence: a utility in ViV_iVi​ must be written as a nonnegative combination of the kinks (yik−t)+(y_{ik}-t)_+(yik​−t)+​, which requires handling repeated realizations and the one-sided slopes at each break point.

Formalization scope

  • RN\mathbb R^NRN is Fin N → ℝ; XXX, θ\thetaθ, μ\muμ are Fin m → Fin n → ℝ; expectations are finite sums and positive parts are max t 0. No measure theory is used.
  • Probabilities satisfy pj≥0p_j\ge0pj​≥0, ∑jpj=1\sum_jp_j=1∑j​pj​=1; pj=0p_j=0pj​=0 is allowed, as on the page.
  • Standing assumptions of p. 2 are explicit hypotheses: ZZZ convex and hjh_jhj​, gijg_{ij}gij​ concave on RN\mathbb R^NRN. Continuity is not stated, since finite concave functions on RN\mathbb R^NRN are continuous.
  • The relative interior is intrinsicInterior ℝ Z, not the topological interior. In the Slater condition only the splitting constraints are strict; the dominance constraints hold non-strictly.
  • ViV_iVi​ is defined by concavity, monotonicity, affinity on every interval whose interior contains no yiky_{ik}yik​, and u=0u=0u=0 on [max⁡kyik,∞)[\max_ky_{ik},\infty)[maxk​yik​,∞). This last clause is the page's u(yi,[n])=0u(y_{i,[n]})=0u(yi,[n]​)=0 combined with Vi⊂U1([ai,bi])V_i\subset\mathcal U_1([a_i,b_i])Vi​⊂U1​([ai​,bi​]). No positive slope is required, because the printed "c>0c>0c>0" in U1\mathcal U_1U1​ is a misprint for c≥0c\ge0c≥0.
  • "max" in (43) is an attained maximum over all of Z×RmnZ\times\mathbb R^{mn}Z×Rmn, with no constraints on XXX. The dual functional (47) is an EReal supremum.
  • Theorem 6 keeps the Slater condition as a hypothesis of the whole statement, as printed, although its converse part does not use it.
  • A trivializing formalization is ruled out. ViV_iVi​ is not defined as the set of functions of the form (46), which would make milestones 3 and 5 true by definition. Slater does not require strict dominance constraints, which would make it unsatisfiable. A sorry-free check confirms that the goal's hypotheses hold on an instance (n=2n=2n=2, Z=[0,1]Z=[0,1]Z=[0,1]).
  • Reusable beyond this mission: the Kuhn–Tucker theorem with polyhedral constraints and relative-interior Slater point (milestone 4), and Lemma 2. Proofs of any item, and alternative proofs of the goal that avoid milestone 4, are welcome.
  • The pure-dominance case is the earlier paper of Dentcheva–Ruszczyński (2003). The function F2F_2F2​ and its expected-shortfall form are due to Ogryczak–Ruszczyński. The general Lagrange duality on the platform (ConvexOptimization.slater_strong_duality, Boyd–Vandenberghe §5.3.2) assumes a strict Slater point for every constraint and no set constraint, so it does not cover milestone 4.

Selected references

  • D. Dentcheva, A. Ruszczyński, Optimality and duality theory for stochastic optimization problems with nonlinear dominance constraints, Math. Program., 2004 (cited here from the authors' revised manuscript, April 2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-003-0453-z
  • D. Dentcheva, A. Ruszczyński, Optimization with stochastic dominance constraints, SIAM J. Optim. 14 (2003) 548–566. https://doi.org/10.1137/S1052623402420528
  • W. Ogryczak, A. Ruszczyński, Dual stochastic dominance and related mean-risk models, SIAM J. Optim. 13 (2002) 60–78. https://doi.org/10.1137/S1052623400375075
  • R. T. Rockafellar, Convex Analysis, Princeton University Press, 1970, §28. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400873173
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Operations ResearchProbabilityStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Maximum Pressure Policies in Stochastic Processing Networks I: Under the EAA Assumption, Maximum Pressure Is Pathwise Stable Whenever the Static Planning LP Has a Feasible Solution with ρ ≤ 1Research Paper

Why throughput matters

A processing network must decide which activities receive scarce processor capacity while jobs move among buffers. Such decisions matter in manufacturing, service systems, and switches: one activity can consume several processors at once, and a job can be routed to another buffer after processing. A policy that sees current buffer levels but does not need to know arrival or routing rates is easier to operate when those rates are difficult to estimate. Dai and Lin's 2005 paper studies whether a maximum pressure policy, which uses the buffer vector and an input-output matrix, can stabilize every network that is stabilizable in their model. Their Theorems 1 and 2 give, respectively, a necessary planning condition for any stabilizing policy and a sufficient condition for maximum pressure under the extreme-allocation-available assumption. Dai and Lin (2005)

Here pathwise stability means that each internal buffer grows sublinearly in time almost surely. This is a rate statement about sample paths. It does not assert positive recurrence of a Markov chain, nor does it require a stationary distribution. The paper allows general primitive processing and routing processes with almost-sure long-run averages. Dai and Lin (2005), §§2–4

Network and allocations

There are III internal buffers, JJJ activities, and KKK processors. Buffer 000 represents the outside world. The K×JK\times JK×J matrix AAA records resource use: Akj=1A_{kj}=1Akj​=1 when activity jjj requires processor kkk. The J×(I+1)J\times(I+1)J×(I+1) matrix BBB records which buffers an activity processes. An input activity processes Buffer 000; a service activity does not. Input processors serve only input activities and must be fully used, while all processors have at most unit capacity.

For activity jjj, the processing requirements have mean mjm_jmj​ and the routing counts have long-run matrix PjP^jPj. Write μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​. The input-output matrix is

Rij=μj(Bji−∑i′=0IBji′Pi′ij),i=1,…,I.R_{ij}=\mu_j\left(B_{ji}-\sum_{i'=0}^{I}B_{ji'}P^j_{i'i}\right),\qquad i=1,\ldots,I.Rij​=μj​(Bji​−i′=0∑I​Bji′​Pi′ij​),i=1,…,I.

Positive RijR_{ij}Rij​ means activity jjj consumes net material from internal buffer iii; negative means it produces net material there. An allocation a∈Aa\in\mathcal Aa∈A assigns nonnegative activity levels subject to the processor capacity bounds and the equality for every input processor. The finite set E\mathcal EE consists of the extreme points of this allocation set. At buffer vector zzz, allocation aaa has network pressure p(a,z)=z⋅Rap(a,z)=z\cdot Rap(a,z)=z⋅Ra. The maximum pressure rule chooses an allocation of greatest pressure among the currently feasible members of E\mathcal EE. Feasibility depends on jobs actually available to each constituent buffer. Dai and Lin (2005), §§2–3

The extreme-allocation-available assumption (EAA) says that for every nonnegative zzz, a pressure maximizer in E\mathcal EE can be chosen whose constituent buffers all have positive levels. It links the static pressure maximization to the jobs that a policy can process. The static planning LP asks for activity fractions x≥0x\ge0x≥0 and a service-processor load ρ\rhoρ such that Rx=0Rx=0Rx=0, every input processor has load one, and every service processor has load at most ρ\rhoρ. Dai and Lin (2005), p. 202

Formalization targets

The goal is Theorem 2. For a network satisfying EAA and run by a preemptive, processor-splitting maximum pressure policy, LP feasibility with ρ≤1\rho\le1ρ≤1 implies

P ⁣(∀i∈{1,…,I}, lim⁡t→∞Zi(t)t=0)=1.\mathbb P\!\left(\forall i\in\{1,\ldots,I\},\ \lim_{t\to\infty}\frac{Z_i(t)}{t}=0\right)=1.P(∀i∈{1,…,I}, t→∞lim​tZi​(t)​=0)=1.

The milestones follow the paper's route from stochastic paths to deterministic fluid limits. A fluid limit is a uniform-on-compact limit of (Z(rt),T(rt))/r(Z(rt),T(rt))/r(Z(rt),T(rt))/r along positive scales r→∞r\to\inftyr→∞. The milestones state that fluid limits satisfy (14)–(18), weak stability of the corresponding fluid model transfers to pathwise stability (Theorem 3), maximum pressure adds (52)–(55) and (20) (Lemmas 5 and 4), quadratic fluid energy obeys (22)–(23), and LP feasibility with EAA makes the maximum-pressure fluid model weakly stable (Theorem 4). Dai and Lin (2005), pp. 203, 213–214

What the result gives

Theorem 2 identifies a policy whose almost-sure buffer growth rate vanishes whenever the planning LP permits load at most one and EAA holds. Together with the paper's necessary condition in Theorem 1, it characterizes the feasibility boundary for this policy class under EAA. Its scope includes networks in which an activity uses multiple processors and processes multiple buffers simultaneously. It does not claim that all such networks satisfy EAA. Dai and Lin (2005), Theorems 1–2

The result is proved in the 2005 article. This mission asks for a machine-checked proof of that known theorem and its selected intermediate claims. The Lean statements are open draft targets. Reusable outcomes include a model of cumulative routing and service counts, a uniform-on-compact fluid-limit interface, and the weak-fluid-stability transfer theorem for networks without a Markov assumption.

Why the proof is difficult

Maximizing pressure over the static allocation polytope does not by itself describe an executable service policy. An allocation can demand work from an empty buffer. EAA addresses the existence of a maximizing allocation supported by positive buffer levels, but the stochastic policy acts on actual jobs and completion times. The proof must connect those discrete, pathwise decisions to the limiting differential equation (20). At a regular fluid time, the maximum-pressure equation is decisive; away from regular times, derivatives need not exist. The fluid model therefore carries a time qualifier that cannot simply be dropped. Dai and Lin (2005), pp. 201–203, 214

Formalization scope

The Lean model uses finite index types for buffers, activities, and processors. Internal buffers are Fin I; Buffer 0 is the zero index of Fin (I+1), and an internal buffer maps to its successor index. Activity and processor labels use zero-based Fin. Time is real but all network equations are asserted for nonnegative time. The shared Bell–Williams Paths definition supplies the renewal count in N∪{∞}\mathbb N\cup\{\infty\}N∪{∞} and uniform-on-compact distance using the ℓ1\ell^1ℓ1 norm. The completion count is required finite wherever the network equations convert it to a natural number; this prevents infinity from becoming a zero count. Bell and Williams (2001)

The network standing assumptions record binary incidence matrices, nonempty constituencies, processor coverage, activity types, and an input activity. Two refinements are explicit: each input processor has an activity, so its mandatory unit allocation is feasible, and mj>0m_j>0mj​>0, so μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​ is defined as the intended positive rate. Routing counts are cumulative and nonnegative. Their row sums are constrained only for buffers an activity processes: the printed sentence requiring the same sum for every buffer conflicts with its immediately preceding statement that the count vanishes when the activity does not process that buffer. The corresponding rows of PjP^jPj sum to one for processed buffers and vanish for unprocessed buffers, as follows from (4). Dai and Lin (2005), pp. 199–200

The policy predicate records allocation-time decomposition (49)–(51) and the non-employment consequence of Definition 1 used in (56)–(58). It checks feasibility of a competing extreme allocation through the paper's threshold JJJ at every time of the interval. Individual job states and tie breaking are outside the pathwise interface. The goal retains EAA, the exact ρ≤1\rho\le1ρ≤1 bound, and all network and policy equations, so an empty allocation set or an unconstrained service path cannot make the target automatic. Contributions formalizing the finite extreme-point set, fluid-limit compactness, Lemmas 4–5, and the weak-stability transfer are welcome.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and W. Lin, Maximum pressure policies in stochastic processing networks, Operations Research 53(2):197–218, 2005. DOI.
  • S. L. Bell and R. J. Williams, Dynamic scheduling of a system with two parallel servers in heavy traffic with resource pooling: asymptotic optimality of a threshold policy, Annals of Applied Probability 11(3):608–649, 2001. DOI.
10 thms2 active usersReviewed
Dynamic ProgrammingOperations ResearchOptimization·Captain: mikedeng1

Contraction Mappings in the Theory Underlying Dynamic Programming 2: Under N-Stage Contraction and Monotonicity the Optimal Return Is the Unique Fixed Point of the Maximization OperatorResearch Paper

Motivation

Infinite-horizon dynamic programs, including discounted Markov decision processes, stochastic games and semi-Markov models, are usually analysed through a single equation: the optimal return fff solves the optimality equation v=Avv = Avv=Av, where AAA maximizes the one-step return over decisions. Denardo's 1967 paper (SIAM Review 9(2), 165–177) separated the argument from the particular model. It isolated two properties of an abstract return hhh, contraction and monotonicity, and showed that the standard conclusions follow from them alone. The examples of §8 of the paper cover Howard's discounted model, Shapley's stochastic games and Blackwell's, Jewell's and Fox's models.

The plain contraction assumption (each one-step operator shrinks distances by a factor c<1c<1c<1) fails in models where the process stops only from a subset of states, or where discounting acts only after several transitions. §5 of the paper handles these with the N-stage contraction assumption: only NNN steps of a policy need to contract, while one step only needs to be nonexpansive. This mission formalizes that section. Its companion mission (part 1 of the series) formalizes the plain contraction case.

Timeline:

  • 1953: Shapley proves that the value of a discounted stochastic game is the fixed point of a contraction.
  • 1960: Howard introduces policy iteration for finite discounted Markov decision processes.
  • 1962–1965: Blackwell studies discrete and discounted dynamic programming, including the existence of optimal stationary policies.
  • 1967: Denardo, in this paper, states the contraction and monotonicity assumptions for an abstract return and proves Theorems 1–4.
  • 1977: Bertsekas, "Monotone mappings with application in dynamic programming", drops contraction and keeps only monotonicity.

Setting

Let Ω\OmegaΩ be a set of points. Each point xxx has a decision set DxD_xDx​. A policy δ\deltaδ picks a decision δx∈Dx\delta_x\in D_xδx​∈Dx​ at every point, so the policy space is Δ=×x∈ΩDx\Delta=\times_{x\in\Omega}D_xΔ=×x∈Ω​Dx​. Let VVV be the bounded real functions on Ω\OmegaΩ with the metric ρ(u,v)=sup⁡x∣u(x)−v(x)∣\rho(u,v)=\sup_x|u(x)-v(x)|ρ(u,v)=supx​∣u(x)−v(x)∣; VVV is complete. Write u≥vu\ge vu≥v when u(x)≥v(x)u(x)\ge v(x)u(x)≥v(x) for every xxx.

The return hhh assigns a real number h(x,dx,v)h(x,d_x,v)h(x,dx​,v) to each point xxx, decision dx∈Dxd_x\in D_xdx​∈Dx​ and v∈Vv\in Vv∈V. It defines two kinds of operators on VVV:

[Hδv](x)=h(x,δx,v),(Av)(x)=sup⁡dx∈Dxh(x,dx,v),[H_\delta v](x)=h(x,\delta_x,v),\qquad (Av)(x)=\sup_{d_x\in D_x}h(x,d_x,v),[Hδ​v](x)=h(x,δx​,v),(Av)(x)=dx​∈Dx​sup​h(x,dx​,v),

and both are assumed to map VVV into VVV. An operator BBB on VVV has modulus ccc or less when ρ(Bu,Bv)≤c ρ(u,v)\rho(Bu,Bv)\le c\,\rho(u,v)ρ(Bu,Bv)≤cρ(u,v) for all u,vu,vu,v.

  • Monotonicity assumption: if u≥vu\ge vu≥v then Hδu≥HδvH_\delta u\ge H_\delta vHδ​u≥Hδ​v for every δ\deltaδ.
  • N-stage contraction assumption: for a positive integer NNN and a number c<1c<1c<1, both independent of δ\deltaδ, every HδNH_\delta^NHδN​ has modulus ccc or less and every HδH_\deltaHδ​ has modulus 111 or less.

Under these assumptions HδNH_\delta^NHδN​ is a contraction, so it has a unique fixed point vδv_\deltavδ​, the return function of δ\deltaδ. The optimal return is f(x)=sup⁡δvδ(x)f(x)=\sup_\delta v_\delta(x)f(x)=supδ​vδ​(x). The auxiliary operator EEE is (Ev)(x)=sup⁡δ(HδNv)(x)(Ev)(x)=\sup_\delta(H_\delta^Nv)(x)(Ev)(x)=supδ​(HδN​v)(x).

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 4 (p. 169)

Under the monotonicity and N-stage contraction assumptions:

(a) Hδvδ=vδ and vδ is the only fixed point of Hδ;(b) ρ(vδ,v)≤ρ(Hδv,v) N1−c;\text{(a) } H_\delta v_\delta=v_\delta \text{ and } v_\delta \text{ is the only fixed point of } H_\delta;\qquad \text{(b) } \rho(v_\delta,v)\le\frac{\rho(H_\delta v,v)\,N}{1-c};(a) Hδ​vδ​=vδ​ and vδ​ is the only fixed point of Hδ​;(b) ρ(vδ​,v)≤1−cρ(Hδ​v,v)N​; (c) E has modulus c or less;(d) f∈V, Ef=f, Af=f,  and f is the only fixed point of E and of A;\text{(c) } E \text{ has modulus } c \text{ or less};\qquad \text{(d) } f\in V,\ Ef=f,\ Af=f,\ \text{ and } f \text{ is the only fixed point of } E \text{ and of } A;(c) E has modulus c or less;(d) f∈V, Ef=f, Af=f,  and f is the only fixed point of E and of A; (e) v≤f ⟹ ρ(ANv,f)≤c ρ(v,f).\text{(e) } v\le f\ \Longrightarrow\ \rho(A^Nv,f)\le c\,\rho(v,f).(e) v≤f ⟹ ρ(ANv,f)≤cρ(v,f).

Milestones

  1. The observation at the end of §3 (p. 168): if every operator in a nonempty family has modulus ccc or less, then their pointwise supremum has modulus ccc or less, provided it maps VVV into VVV.
  2. Lemma 1 (p. 168): under monotonicity, AAA is monotone; Av≥vAv\ge vAv≥v implies that AnvA^nvAnv is nondecreasing in nnn; Hδv≥vH_\delta v\ge vHδ​v≥v implies that HδnvH_\delta^nvHδn​v is nondecreasing in nnn.
  3. Theorem 4 (a)–(c), the part the paper proves in the text of §5 before stating the theorem. This milestone also includes the existence of EEE as an operator on VVV and f∈Vf\in Vf∈V.
  4. Lemma 2 (p. 169): Av≤vAv\le vAv≤v implies v≥fv\ge fv≥f, and Av≥vAv\ge vAv≥v implies v≤fv\le fv≤f; Avδ≥vδAv_\delta\ge v_\deltaAvδ​≥vδ​; Hδv≥vH_\delta v\ge vHδ​v≥v implies vδ≥Hδvv_\delta\ge H_\delta vvδ​≥Hδ​v.

The mission also contains two consequences that are not milestones: fff is optimal for the mathematical programs min⁡v\min vminv s.t. Av≤vAv\le vAv≤v and max⁡v\max vmaxv s.t. Av≥vAv\ge vAv≥v (§6, p. 171), and a policy is optimal exactly when it attains f(x)=h(x,δx,f)f(x)=h(x,\delta_x,f)f(x)=h(x,δx​,f) at every point (§7, p. 173).

Significance

Theorem 4 lets models whose one-step operators are not contractions use the contraction-mapping theory of dynamic programming. Under its hypotheses the optimality equation v=Avv=Avv=Av has exactly one bounded solution, and that solution is the optimal return. Successive approximation converges geometrically from below (part (e)). Lemma 2 shows that fff is the least vvv with Av≤vAv\le vAv≤v and the greatest vvv with Av≥vAv\ge vAv≥v. This gives the linear-programming formulation of finite Markov decision processes (Program I) and the policy-improvement argument of §6. The characterization Δ∗=Δ+\Delta^*=\Delta^+Δ∗=Δ+ reduces the search for optimal policies to the decisions that attain the maximum in the optimality equation.

The results are proved in the paper. The work of this mission is to formalize them, in the abstract form that Mathlib does not have: monotone operators on bounded functions that are contractive only after NNN steps, with suprema taken over arbitrary, possibly infinite, decision and policy sets. No machine-checked proof of Theorem 4 or of Lemma 2 is known. The closest formal statements, Propositions 4.1–4.2 of Bertsekas and Shreve under their Assumption C, concern a different model (extended-real costs, nonstationary policies) and are themselves unproved formally.

Difficulty

The obvious argument would apply the Banach fixed-point theorem to AAA. That does not work: under the N-stage assumption, ANA^NAN need not be a contraction. The paper gives an example (p. 170) with N=2N=2N=2, c=12c=\tfrac12c=21​, where AnA^nAn has modulus 111 for every nnn. The supremum over decisions does not commute with composition, so the contraction of each HδNH_\delta^NHδN​ says nothing directly about ANA^NAN. The paper therefore works through the auxiliary operator EEE, which is a contraction. The hard step is to show that fff, the supremum of the policy returns, is a fixed point of AAA. This is the second half of Lemma 2(a), an ε\varepsilonε-argument that uses both monotonicity and the modulus-111 bound on HδH_\deltaHδ​.

Part (e) holds only for v≤fv\le fv≤f. It is not a contraction property of ANA^NAN on all of VVV.

Formalization scope

  • VVV is lp (fun _ : Ω => ℝ) ⊤ (as BFun Ω), and its dist is ρ\rhoρ. The order is pointwise (PLe).
  • HHH, AAA and EEE are given as functions V→VV\to VV→V, which is the paper's "range contained in VVV". They are tied to hhh by IsPolicyOperator, IsMaxOperator and IsNStageSupOperator. Every supremum, including fff (IsOptimalReturn), is a genuine least upper bound (IsLUB). sSup/⨆ are never used, so no junk value can make a statement trivial.
  • "Modulus ccc or less" is the inequality ModulusLE B c. NStageContractionAssumption H N c holds 0<N0<N0<N, c<1c<1c<1, ModulusLE (H δ)^[N] c and ModulusLE (H δ) 1, with NNN and ccc independent of δ\deltaδ.
  • The return functions are a family v with HδNvδ=vδH_\delta^Nv_\delta=v_\deltaHδN​vδ​=vδ​, the paper's §5 definition. Hδvδ=vδH_\delta v_\delta=v_\deltaHδ​vδ​=vδ​ is the conclusion (a), never a hypothesis.
  • In the goal, EEE is an operator with IsNStageSupOperator H N E. The milestone Theorem 4 (a)–(c) proves that such an operator exists. fff is never defined as a fixed point of AAA or EEE. The goal asserts that the pointwise least upper bound of {vδ(x)}\{v_\delta(x)\}{vδ​(x)} exists in VVV and is the unique fixed point of both.
  • The trivializing formalizations are ruled out explicitly: assuming Hδvδ=vδH_\delta v_\delta=v_\deltaHδ​vδ​=vδ​, defining fff as AAA's fixed point, or dropping v≤fv\le fv≤f from (e) would each change the theorem.

A complete development needs the Banach fixed-point theorem for iterates (Mathlib's ContractingWith, applied to HδNH_\delta^NHδN​), suprema of families of real numbers, and induction on iterates. The §3 observation and Lemma 1 are reusable for any monotone operator family on bounded functions. Contributions to every milestone and to the two §6–§7 consequences are welcome.

Selected references

  • E. V. Denardo, Contraction Mappings in the Theory Underlying Dynamic Programming, SIAM Review 9(2) (1967) 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1137/1009030
  • L. S. Shapley, Stochastic Games, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 39 (1953) 1095–1100. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.39.10.1095
  • R. A. Howard, Dynamic Programming and Markov Processes, MIT Press, 1960.
  • D. Blackwell, Discounted Dynamic Programming, Ann. Math. Statist. 36 (1965) 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoms/1177700285
  • D. P. Bertsekas, Monotone Mappings with Application in Dynamic Programming, SIAM J. Control Optim. 15(3) (1977) 438–464. https://doi.org/10.1137/0315031
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Linear OptimizationOperations ResearchStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Maximum Pressure Policies in Stochastic Processing Networks III: Strict Leontief Networks Satisfy the Extreme-Allocation-Available (EAA) AssumptionResearch Paper

Motivation

A stochastic processing network (Harrison 2000) models a system in which processors carry out activities and each activity draws jobs from one or more buffers. Manufacturing lines, call centers with cross-trained agents, and data switches all fit this model. A central question is which scheduling policies are throughput optimal, meaning they stabilize the network whenever any policy can.

Dai and Lin (Oper. Res. 53(2), 2005) show that maximum pressure policies are throughput optimal. These policies generalize the back-pressure rule of Tassiulas and Ephremides (1992) for wireless and switch networks, and at each moment they choose the allocation that maximizes a linear "network pressure". Their main theorem (Theorem 2) has one structural hypothesis, the extreme-allocation-available (EAA) assumption (Assumption 1). It holds for many familiar networks and fails for some (§6.2 gives a counterexample). Theorem 6 identifies a broad class where it always holds: strict Leontief networks, in the sense of Bramson and Williams (2003). This mission formalizes that theorem.

Setting

A network has internal buffers I={1,…,I}\mathcal I=\{1,\dots,I\}I={1,…,I}, an outside Buffer 000, activities J={1,…,J}\mathcal J=\{1,\dots,J\}J={1,…,J} and processors K={1,…,K}\mathcal K=\{1,\dots,K\}K={1,…,K}.

  • Akj=1A_{kj}=1Akj​=1 if activity jjj needs processor kkk, and 000 otherwise.
  • Bji=1B_{ji}=1Bji​=1 if activity jjj processes buffer i∈I∪{0}i\in\mathcal I\cup\{0\}i∈I∪{0}, and 000 otherwise. The set Bj={i:Bji=1}\mathcal B_j=\{i:B_{ji}=1\}Bj​={i:Bji​=1} is the constituency of jjj.
  • An input activity has Bj={0}\mathcal B_j=\{0\}Bj​={0}; a service activity has 0∉Bj0\notin\mathcal B_j0∈/Bj​. Every activity is one of the two.
  • Each processor serves input activities only (an input processor) or service activities only.
  • Activity jjj has processing rate μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​ and a nonnegative routing matrix PjP^jPj.

The input-output matrix is

Rij=μj(Bji−∑i′∈I∪{0}Bji′Pi′ij),i∈I, j∈J.R_{ij}=\mu_j\Big(B_{ji}-\sum_{i'\in\mathcal I\cup\{0\}}B_{ji'}P^j_{i'i}\Big),\qquad i\in\mathcal I,\ j\in\mathcal J.Rij​=μj​(Bji​−i′∈I∪{0}∑​Bji′​Pi′ij​),i∈I, j∈J.

An allocation a∈R+Ja\in\mathbb R^J_+a∈R+J​ gives the level at which each activity runs. The allocation set A\mathcal AA consists of the allocations with ∑jAkjaj≤1\sum_jA_{kj}a_j\le1∑j​Akj​aj​≤1 for every processor and ∑jAkjaj=1\sum_jA_{kj}a_j=1∑j​Akj​aj​=1 for every input processor. Write E\mathcal EE for the set of its extreme points, the extreme allocations. For a buffer-level vector z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​ the network pressure is p(a,z)=z⋅Rap(a,z)=z\cdot Rap(a,z)=z⋅Ra. Buffer iii is a constituent buffer of aaa if ∑jajBji>0\sum_ja_jB_{ji}>0∑j​aj​Bji​>0.

Assumption 1 (EAA). For every z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​ there is a∗∈Ea^*\in\mathcal Ea∗∈E with p(a∗,z)=max⁡a∈Ep(a,z)p(a^*,z)=\max_{a\in\mathcal E}p(a,z)p(a∗,z)=maxa∈E​p(a,z) such that zi>0z_i>0zi​>0 for every constituent buffer iii of a∗a^*a∗.

A network is strict Leontief if every service activity has exactly one buffer in its constituency, denoted i(j)i(j)i(j).

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 6 (p. 204)

strict Leontief ⟹ ∀z∈R+I ∃a∗∈E: p(a∗,z)=max⁡a∈Ep(a,z)  and  zi>0 for every constituent buffer i of a∗.\text{strict Leontief}\ \Longrightarrow\ \forall z\in\mathbb R^I_+\ \exists a^*\in\mathcal E:\ p(a^*,z)=\max_{a\in\mathcal E}p(a,z)\ \text{ and }\ z_i>0\ \text{for every constituent buffer } i \text{ of } a^*.strict Leontief ⟹ ∀z∈R+I​ ∃a∗∈E: p(a∗,z)=a∈Emax​p(a,z)  and  zi​>0 for every constituent buffer i of a∗.

Milestones

  1. (§3, p. 201) For every z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​, max⁡a∈Ap(a,z)\max_{a\in\mathcal A}p(a,z)maxa∈A​p(a,z) is attained at an extreme allocation.
  2. (p. 204) Bji=0B_{ji}=0Bji​=0 and Rij≤0R_{ij}\le0Rij​≤0 whenever i∈Ii\in\mathcal Ii∈I, i≠i(j)i\ne i(j)i=i(j).
  3. (p. 204) Let J0\mathcal J_0J0​ be the set of service activities jjj with zi(j)=0z_{i(j)}=0zi(j)​=0. Setting the coordinates of a^∈A\hat a\in\mathcal Aa^∈A in J0\mathcal J_0J0​ to zero gives a~∈A\tilde a\in\mathcal Aa~∈A with z′Ra~≥z′Ra^z'R\tilde a\ge z'R\hat az′Ra~≥z′Ra^.
  4. (p. 204) It suffices to find a∗∈arg⁡max⁡a∈Ez′Raa^*\in\arg\max_{a\in\mathcal E}z'Raa∗∈argmaxa∈E​z′Ra with aj∗=0a^*_j=0aj∗​=0 on J0\mathcal J_0J0​.
  5. (p. 204) If a~∈A\tilde a\in\mathcal Aa~∈A maximizes z′Raz'Raz′Ra over A\mathcal AA and vanishes on J0\mathcal J_0J0​, some extreme allocation does both.

Significance

The result. Theorem 2 of the paper states that, under EAA, a maximum pressure policy is pathwise stable whenever the static planning problem has a feasible solution with ρ≤1\rho\le1ρ≤1. Theorem 6 removes the EAA hypothesis for strict Leontief networks. In that class maximum pressure is therefore throughput optimal with no further structural condition. The class includes multiclass queueing networks with alternate routes and networks of input-queued data switches (§9), so Theorem 6 is the step that turns the abstract main theorem into a statement about these concrete systems.

Formalizing it. The theorem is proved in the paper and, to our knowledge, has no machine-checked proof. Formalizing it fixes the exact standing assumptions of the model, several of which the paper uses without stating (see below). It also yields a reusable Lean vocabulary for stochastic processing networks with input activities: RRR from (5), the allocation polytope with the input-processor equality (2), extreme allocations, network pressure and EAA. The companion missions of this series on maximum pressure policies build on the same vocabulary.

Difficulty

The naive argument stops at "take a maximizing extreme allocation". A maximizer a^\hat aa^ may run a service activity whose buffer is empty, in which case EAA fails at a^\hat aa^. Removing such activities gives a~\tilde aa~, which has the right support and pressure but is in general not extreme. The pressure inequality depends on the sign pattern of RRR, which holds only because every service activity has a single buffer. In the network of §6.2 this sign pattern fails and so does EAA. Returning from a~\tilde aa~ to an extreme allocation without losing the support property needs a convex-geometry argument about the polytope A\mathcal AA. In Lean this means relating Set.extremePoints of a compact polyhedron to maximizers of a linear functional and to supports.

Formalization scope

  • Indexing. Internal buffers are Fin I. Buffers including Buffer 0 are Fin (I+1), with Buffer 000 as 0 and internal buffer iii as i.succ. Activities and processors are 0-based.

  • Standing assumptions (§2), one predicate Network.Standing.

    • AAA and BBB are 000–111 matrices.
    • Every constituency is nonempty, and every activity is an input or a service activity.
    • Every activity needs a processor.
    • Each processor serves input activities only or service activities only.
    • There is an input activity.
    • Pj≥0P^j\ge0Pj≥0 and P00j=0P^j_{00}=0P00j​=0.
  • Disclosed additions to the page.

    1. Every input processor has an activity. "The input processors are never idle" presupposes it.
    2. mj>0m_j>0mj​>0. The page writes "nonnegative" but sets μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​.
    3. A≠∅\mathcal A\neq\emptysetA=∅, an explicit hypothesis of the goal and of milestone 1. The paper presupposes it by listing E={a1,…,aE}\mathcal E=\{a^1,\dots,a^E\}E={a1,…,aE}. It does not follow from the standing assumptions: two input activities needing input processors {1,2}\{1,2\}{1,2} and {2,3}\{2,3\}{2,3} make (2) infeasible, so E=∅\mathcal E=\emptysetE=∅ and EAA fails in a network that is vacuously strict Leontief. A verification file checks this example in Lean.
  • Conventions.

    • E\mathcal EE is Mathlib's Set.extremePoints ℝ 𝒜.
    • Every "max" and "argmax" is in domination form (p(a′,z)≤p(a∗,z)p(a',z)\le p(a^*,z)p(a′,z)≤p(a∗,z) for all a′a'a′), never sSup. Without attainment the statement would be vacuous.
    • Constituent buffers are internal buffers only. Buffer 000 has no level.
    • i(j)i(j)i(j) is written relationally.
    • Row sums of PjP^jPj are not imposed.
  • Trivializing formalizations ruled out. EAA must not be weakened to a supremum over a possibly empty E\mathcal EE, and Buffer 000 must not be counted as a constituent buffer. Either change would make the goal trivially true or impossible.

  • Infrastructure. Solvers need two results:

    • attainment of a linear maximum on extreme points of a compact convex polyhedron, via IsCompact.extremePoints_nonempty and Krein–Milman;
    • the fact that every extreme point in a convex decomposition of a maximizer with positive weight is a maximizer.

    Both are reusable beyond this mission. Contributions proving them as general Mathlib-style lemmas are welcome.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and W. Lin, Maximum pressure policies in stochastic processing networks, Operations Research 53(2):197–218, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.1040.0170
  • J. M. Harrison, Brownian models of open processing networks: canonical representation of workload, Annals of Applied Probability 10(1):75–103, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoap/1019737665
  • M. Bramson and R. J. Williams, Two workload properties for Brownian networks, Queueing Systems 45(3):191–221, 2003. (no link verified; see the reference list of Dai & Lin 2005)
  • L. Tassiulas and A. Ephremides, Stability properties of constrained queueing systems and scheduling policies for maximum throughput in multihop radio networks, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 37(12):1936–1948, 1992. https://doi.org/10.1109/9.182479
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Control TheoryOperations ResearchStochastic Systems·Captain: mikedeng1

Maximum Pressure Policies in Stochastic Processing Networks II: Under Assumptions 1 and 2, the Maximum Pressure Fluid Model Empties in Finite Time When the Static Planning LP Has ρ < 1Research Paper

Motivation

Stochastic processing networks (Harrison 2000) model manufacturing lines, data switches, call centers and multiclass queueing networks in one framework: jobs wait in buffers, activities process jobs from one or several buffers at once, each activity may need several processors simultaneously, and routing after service may depend on the activity used. A central control question is which dynamic policy keeps such a network stable whenever any policy can.

Dai and Lin (Oper. Res. 53(2), 2005) answer it with maximum pressure policies, a generalization of the back-pressure policy of Tassiulas and Ephremides (1992) for wireless networks. At each decision time the policy picks an extreme allocation maximizing a linear "network pressure" in the current buffer levels; it needs no arrival-rate information. Their main result (Theorem 2) is pathwise stability whenever Harrison's static planning LP has a feasible solution with ρ≤1\rho\le1ρ≤1. The proof goes through the fluid model: a deterministic, continuous analogue of the network whose stability implies stability of the stochastic system.

This mission formalizes Theorem 5 of the paper, the strong form of the fluid-level result: under a strict load condition ρ<1\rho<1ρ<1 and a mild structural assumption, every solution of the maximum pressure fluid model empties in finite time, uniformly over bounded initial states. Fluid stability in this sense (Definition 4) is the property that the standard fluid-limit machinery (Dai 1995) turns into positive Harris recurrence of the stochastic network.

Setting

The network has buffers 0,1,…,I0,1,\dots,I0,1,…,I, where Buffer 000 is the outside world and I={1,…,I}\mathcal I=\{1,\dots,I\}I={1,…,I} are the internal buffers, activities J={1,…,J}\mathcal J=\{1,\dots,J\}J={1,…,J} and processors K={1,…,K}\mathcal K=\{1,\dots,K\}K={1,…,K}.

  • Akj∈{0,1}A_{kj}\in\{0,1\}Akj​∈{0,1} records whether activity jjj needs processor kkk, and Bji∈{0,1}B_{ji}\in\{0,1\}Bji​∈{0,1} whether activity jjj processes buffer iii.
  • An input activity processes only Buffer 000; a service activity never processes Buffer 000. Every activity is one or the other. Every processor serves only input activities (an input processor) or only service activities (a service processor).
  • mj>0m_j>0mj​>0 is the mean processing requirement of activity jjj, μj=1/mj\mu_j=1/m_jμj​=1/mj​, and PjP^jPj is its routing matrix.

The input-output matrix is Rij=μj(Bji−∑i′∈I∪{0}Bji′Pi′ij)R_{ij}=\mu_j\big(B_{ji}-\sum_{i'\in\mathcal I\cup\{0\}}B_{ji'}P^j_{i'i}\big)Rij​=μj​(Bji​−∑i′∈I∪{0}​Bji′​Pi′ij​). An allocation is a∈R+Ja\in\mathbb R^J_+a∈R+J​ with ∑jAkjaj≤1\sum_jA_{kj}a_j\le1∑j​Akj​aj​≤1 for every processor and =1=1=1 for every input processor; A\mathcal AA is the set of allocations and E\mathcal EE the set of its extreme points. The network pressure of aaa at buffer level z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​ is p(a,z)=z⋅Rap(a,z)=z\cdot Rap(a,z)=z⋅Ra.

The static planning LP asks for x≥0x\ge0x≥0 and ρ\rhoρ with Rx=0Rx=0Rx=0, ∑jAkjxj≤ρ\sum_jA_{kj}x_j\le\rho∑j​Akj​xj​≤ρ for service processors and =1=1=1 for input processors. Assumption 1 (extreme-allocation-available, EAA) says that for every z∈R+Iz\in\mathbb R^I_+z∈R+I​ some maximizer of p(⋅,z)p(\cdot,z)p(⋅,z) over E\mathcal EE has zi>0z_i>0zi​>0 on all its constituent buffers. Assumption 2 says there is x≥0x\ge0x≥0 with Rx>0Rx>0Rx>0 componentwise.

A fluid model solution is a pair of paths (Zˉ,Tˉ)(\bar Z,\bar T)(Zˉ,Tˉ), buffer levels Zˉ(t)∈RI\bar Z(t)\in\mathbb R^IZˉ(t)∈RI and cumulative activity times Tˉ(t)∈RJ\bar T(t)\in\mathbb R^JTˉ(t)∈RJ, satisfying (14)–(18): Zˉ(t)=Zˉ(0)−RTˉ(t)\bar Z(t)=\bar Z(0)-R\bar T(t)Zˉ(t)=Zˉ(0)−RTˉ(t) (written out over buffers), Zˉ≥0\bar Z\ge0Zˉ≥0, input processors always busy, every processor's busy time at most elapsed time, and Tˉ\bar TTˉ nondecreasing with Tˉ(0)=0\bar T(0)=0Tˉ(0)=0. A time t>0t>0t>0 is regular if both paths are differentiable there. Under a maximum pressure policy the solution also satisfies (20): at each regular ttt,

RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)=max⁡a∈ERa⋅Zˉ(t).R\dot{\bar T}(t)\cdot\bar Z(t)=\max_{a\in\mathcal E}Ra\cdot\bar Z(t).RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)=a∈Emax​Ra⋅Zˉ(t).

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 5

Assumptions 1, 2 and an LP solution with ρ<1 ⟹ ∃ δ>0: ∣Zˉ(0)∣≤1⇒Zˉ(t)=0  ∀t≥δ,\text{Assumptions 1, 2 and an LP solution with } \rho<1\ \Longrightarrow\ \exists\,\delta>0:\ |\bar Z(0)|\le1\Rightarrow \bar Z(t)=0\ \ \forall t\ge\delta,Assumptions 1, 2 and an LP solution with ρ<1 ⟹ ∃δ>0: ∣Zˉ(0)∣≤1⇒Zˉ(t)=0  ∀t≥δ,

for every solution of (14)–(18) and (20). The constant δ\deltaδ depends on the network only.

Milestones

  1. For an input activity jjj, Rij=−μjBj0P0ij≤0R_{ij}=-\mu_jB_{j0}P^j_{0i}\le0Rij​=−μj​Bj0​P0ij​≤0.
  2. Assumption 2 yields x^≥0\hat x\ge0x^≥0 with Rx^>0R\hat x>0Rx^>0 that vanishes on input activities and loads no input processor.
  3. After scaling x^\hat xx^, the vector x∗=x~+x^x^*=\tilde x+\hat xx∗=x~+x^ is an allocation and Rx∗≥δeRx^*\ge\delta eRx∗≥δe for some δ>0\delta>0δ>0.
  4. The maximum of p(⋅,z)p(\cdot,z)p(⋅,z) over A\mathcal AA is attained on E\mathcal EE (p. 201).
  5. The identities (22)–(23): f˙(t)=2Zˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)=−2RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)\dot f(t)=2\dot{\bar Z}(t)\cdot\bar Z(t)=-2R\dot{\bar T}(t)\cdot\bar Z(t)f˙​(t)=2Zˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)=−2RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t) for f=∑iZˉi2f=\sum_i\bar Z_i^2f=∑i​Zˉi2​.
  6. RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)≥Rx∗⋅Zˉ(t)≥δ∑iZˉi(t)≥δ∥Zˉ(t)∥R\dot{\bar T}(t)\cdot\bar Z(t)\ge Rx^*\cdot\bar Z(t)\ge\delta\sum_i\bar Z_i(t)\ge\delta\|\bar Z(t)\|RTˉ˙(t)⋅Zˉ(t)≥Rx∗⋅Zˉ(t)≥δ∑i​Zˉi​(t)≥δ∥Zˉ(t)∥.
  7. f˙(t)≤−2δf(t)\dot f(t)\le-2\delta\sqrt{f(t)}f˙​(t)≤−2δf(t)​ at regular times.
  8. The explicit emptying time: Zˉ(t)=0\bar Z(t)=0Zˉ(t)=0 for t≥∥Zˉ(0)∥/δt\ge\|\bar Z(0)\|/\deltat≥∥Zˉ(0)∥/δ.

Significance

The result. Theorem 4 of the paper gives only weak stability (a fluid model started empty stays empty) under ρ≤1\rho\le1ρ≤1, which suffices for pathwise stability. Theorem 5 gives a uniform emptying time under ρ<1\rho<1ρ<1, the hypothesis that standard arguments (Dai 1995; Dai and Meyn 1995) need to conclude positive Harris recurrence and moment bounds for the stochastic network. The emptying-time bound is explicit and linear in the initial fluid level.

Formalizing it. The theorem is proved in the paper; to our knowledge no machine-checked proof exists. The closest formalized result on Prove2Me is ProcessingNetworks.BackPressure.bp_maximal_stability (Dai and Harrison's book, Theorem 9.12), which uses the same Lyapunov idea in a different model: exogenous arrival rates, the planning problem Rx=λRx=\lambdaRx=λ, no input activities and no Buffer 0. The present mission formalizes the Dai–Lin model with input processors, where the planning LP has Rx=0Rx=0Rx=0 and the equality constraints (2). The definitions file (network, A\mathcal AA, E\mathcal EE, pressure, fluid model, (20)) is shared in content with the other missions of this series.

Difficulty

Each algebraic step is short; the work is in the analysis. The obvious route reads f˙≤−2δf\dot f\le-2\delta\sqrt ff˙​≤−2δf​ as an ordinary differential inequality and integrates it. That requires the inequality almost everywhere, but it is only available at regular points. So one needs: Lipschitz continuity of Tˉ\bar TTˉ and Zˉ\bar ZZˉ on [0,∞)[0,\infty)[0,∞) from (16)–(18), almost-everywhere differentiability (Rademacher), and a comparison argument for an absolutely continuous function, f=∥Zˉ∥\sqrt f=\|\bar Z\|f​=∥Zˉ∥, whose derivative bound holds only where f>0f>0f>0. The step "by (20)" also needs the maximum over E\mathcal EE to dominate every allocation in A\mathcal AA. That is the vertex property of a bounded polyhedron, which in Lean means compactness of A\mathcal AA plus a Krein–Milman type argument. The published Dini-derivative extinction criterion ProcessingNetworks.LyapunovCriteria.dini_extinction_criterion (Dai–Harrison Lemma 8.11) is a possible tool for the last step, applied to ∥Zˉ∥\|\bar Z\|∥Zˉ∥.

Formalization scope

  • Indices are 0-based: internal buffers Fin I, buffers 0..I0..I0..I as Fin (I+1) with Buffer 0 the index 0 and internal buffer i the index i.succ, activities Fin J, processors Fin K.
  • Paths are functions ℝ → (Fin n → ℝ) constrained only at t≥0t\ge0t≥0. Derivatives are deriv, used only at regular points.
  • (20) is encoded as IsGreatest of the set of pressures over E\mathcal EE, so the maximum is attained and an empty E\mathcal EE cannot pass through a junk supremum. E\mathcal EE is Mathlib's Set.extremePoints.
  • The fluid model of the theorem is the predicate "(14)–(18) and (20)". Solutions are not required to be fluid limits.
  • The standing assumptions of §2 are one predicate, Network.Standing. Two disclosed additions are needed for the objects to make sense: every input processor has an activity, and mj>0m_j>0mj​>0. The row sums of PjP^jPj are not imposed.
  • The theorem's text cites "the LP (9)–(12)". The proof needs x≥0x\ge0x≥0, so the LP used is (9)–(13), as in Theorems 1, 2 and 4.
  • The norm in Definition 4 is Euclidean, as in the proof.
  • Assumption 1 is a hypothesis of the goal because the page states it. The fluid-level argument does not use it.
  • Ruled out: a vacuous goal. A sorry-free sanity file shows a one-buffer network (one input activity, one service activity) that satisfies every hypothesis of the goal and has a maximum pressure fluid solution. The milestone on the maximum over A\mathcal AA carries the hypothesis A≠∅\mathcal A\neq\emptysetA=∅, because the standing assumptions alone do not imply it.

Contributions of reusable lemmas are welcome, in particular almost-everywhere differentiability of Lipschitz paths on [0,∞)[0,\infty)[0,∞), the vertex property of bounded polyhedra, and extinction of nonnegative absolutely continuous functions with g˙≤−ε\dot g\le-\varepsilong˙​≤−ε on {g>0}\{g>0\}{g>0}.

Selected references

  • J. G. Dai and W. Lin, Maximum pressure policies in stochastic processing networks, Operations Research 53(2):197–218, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.1040.0170
  • J. M. Harrison, Brownian models of open processing networks: canonical representation of workload, Annals of Applied Probability 10(1):75–103, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoap/1019737665
  • J. G. Dai, On positive Harris recurrence of multiclass queueing networks: a unified approach via fluid limit models, Annals of Applied Probability 5(1):49–77, 1995. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoap/1177004828
  • L. Tassiulas and A. Ephremides, Stability properties of constrained queueing systems and scheduling policies for maximum throughput in multihop radio networks, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 37(12):1936–1948, 1992. https://doi.org/10.1109/9.182479
  • J. G. Dai and J. M. Harrison, Processing Networks: Fluid Models and Stability, Cambridge University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108772662
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Linear OptimizationOperations ResearchOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Approximation Algorithms for Precedence-Constrained Scheduling Problems on Parallel Machines That Run at Different Speeds: A min{K + 2√K + 1, 1.89 log m + O(√log m)}-Approximation for Q|prec|CmaxResearch Paper

Scheduling precedence-constrained jobs on machines of different speeds

Graham (1966) showed that list scheduling finds a schedule within a factor 222 of optimal for precedence-constrained jobs on identical parallel machines, the first performance guarantee for an approximation algorithm. When the machines run at different speeds (uniformly related machines), the same analysis breaks down, and for two decades the problem Q∣prec∣Cmax⁡Q|prec|C_{\max}Q∣prec∣Cmax​ resisted a guarantee independent of the speeds better than O(m)O(\sqrt m)O(m​).

Timeline:

  • 1974, Liu and Liu: list scheduling on machines of different speeds, with a guarantee that depends on the speeds and can be arbitrarily large even for a fixed number of machines.
  • 1980, Jaffe: list scheduling on the machines whose speed is within a factor m\sqrt mm​ of the fastest gives an O(m)O(\sqrt m)O(m​)-approximation.
  • 1978, Lenstra and Rinnooy Kan: with precedence constraints, no ρ\rhoρ-approximation with ρ<4/3\rho < 4/3ρ<4/3 exists unless P = NP. This bound already holds for identical machines.
  • 1997–1999, Chudak and Shmoys: an LP-guided variant of list scheduling achieves O(log⁡m)O(\log m)O(logm), and K+2K+1K + 2\sqrt K + 1K+2K​+1 when there are only KKK distinct speeds (J. Algorithms 30 (1999) 323–343; conference version SODA 1997).

The mission formalizes the makespan half of that paper, up to its Theorem 3.7.

Setting

An instance has nnn jobs and m≥1m \ge 1m≥1 machines. Job jjj requires pj>0p_j > 0pj​>0 units of processing, and machine iii runs at speed si>0s_i > 0si​>0, so job jjj takes pj/sip_j/s_ipj​/si​ time units on machine iii. A strict partial order ≺\prec≺ on the jobs gives precedence constraints: j≺kj \prec kj≺k means that job kkk may not start until job jjj has completed.

A schedule runs each job jjj without interruption on one machine μ(j)\mu(j)μ(j), from a start time Sj≥0S_j \ge 0Sj​≥0 to its completion time Cj=Sj+pj/sμ(j)C_j = S_j + p_j/s_{\mu(j)}Cj​=Sj​+pj​/sμ(j)​. A machine processes at most one job at a time, and j≺kj \prec kj≺k forces Cj≤SkC_j \le S_kCj​≤Sk​. Its length is Cmax⁡=max⁡jCjC_{\max} = \max_j C_jCmax​=maxj​Cj​. Cmax⁡∗C^*_{\max}Cmax∗​ is the length of an optimal schedule.

Let sˉ1>sˉ2>⋯>sˉK\bar s_1 > \bar s_2 > \cdots > \bar s_Ksˉ1​>sˉ2​>⋯>sˉK​ be the distinct speeds and mkm_kmk​ the number of machines of speed sˉk\bar s_ksˉk​. An assignment k(j)k(j)k(j) names the speed class at which job jjj is to run. Its loads are Dk=1mk∑j:k(j)=kpj/sˉkD_k = \frac{1}{m_k}\sum_{j:k(j)=k} p_j/\bar s_kDk​=mk​1​∑j:k(j)=k​pj​/sˉk​, and its chain bound CCC is the largest value of ∑j∈Cpj/sˉk(j)\sum_{j\in\mathcal C} p_j/\bar s_{k(j)}∑j∈C​pj​/sˉk(j)​ over chains C\mathcal CC of ≺\prec≺. Speed-based list scheduling is Graham's rule restricted by the assignment: whenever a machine of speed sˉk\bar s_ksˉk​ is idle, it starts the first available job jjj on the list with k(j)=kk(j) = kk(j)=k.

The linear program LP has variables xkj≥0x_{kj} \ge 0xkj​≥0, CjC_jCj​ and DDD. It minimizes DDD subject to the following constraints:

  • ∑kxkj=1\sum_k x_{kj} = 1∑k​xkj​=1;
  • 1mksˉk∑jpjxkj≤D\frac{1}{m_k\bar s_k}\sum_j p_j x_{kj} \le Dmk​sˉk​1​∑j​pj​xkj​≤D;
  • ∑k(pj/sˉk)xkj≤Cj\sum_k (p_j/\bar s_k)x_{kj} \le C_j∑k​(pj​/sˉk​)xkj​≤Cj​, and ∑k(pj/sˉk)xkj≤Cj−Cj′\sum_k (p_j/\bar s_k)x_{kj} \le C_j - C_{j'}∑k​(pj​/sˉk​)xkj​≤Cj​−Cj′​ whenever j′≺jj' \prec jj′≺j;
  • Cj≤DC_j \le DCj​≤D.

From a solution, with pˉj=∑k(pj/sˉk)xkj\bar p_j = \sum_k (p_j/\bar s_k)x_{kj}pˉ​j​=∑k​(pj​/sˉk​)xkj​, the assignment algorithm gives each job jjj the speed class k∉Bj={k:pj/sˉk>γpˉj}k \notin B_j = \{k : p_j/\bar s_k > \gamma\bar p_j\}k∈/Bj​={k:pj​/sˉk​>γpˉ​j​} of largest capacity sˉkmk\bar s_k m_ksˉk​mk​.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 3.7 (p. 10)

There is an absolute constant ccc such that for every instance with m≥2m \ge 2m≥2 machines and KKK distinct speeds, the better of the two schedules below has length at most

min⁡{K+2K+1, 1.89log⁡2m+clog⁡2m}⋅Cmax⁡∗.\min\bigl\{K + 2\sqrt K + 1,\ 1.89\log_2 m + c\sqrt{\log_2 m}\bigr\}\cdot C^*_{\max}.min{K+2K​+1, 1.89log2​m+clog2​m​}⋅Cmax∗​.
  • (A) An optimal LP solution, the assignment algorithm with γ=K+1\gamma = \sqrt K + 1γ=K​+1, and speed-based list scheduling.
  • (B) The same algorithm run on speeds rounded down to powers of eee, with machines slower than sˉ1/(mlog⁡2m)\bar s_1/(m\log_2 m)sˉ1​/(mlog2​m) dropped, and read back on the original machines.

Milestones, in proof order

  • Existence of speed-based list schedules (p. 4).
  • Theorem 2.1: Cmax⁡≤C+∑kDkC_{\max} \le C + \sum_k D_kCmax​≤C+∑k​Dk​.
  • The LP lower bound Dˉ≤Cmax⁡∗\bar D \le C^*_{\max}Dˉ≤Cmax∗​ (p. 6).
  • Lemmas 3.1–3.4: chain bounds 2Dˉ2\bar D2Dˉ and (K+1)Dˉ(\sqrt K + 1)\bar D(K​+1)Dˉ, and load bounds 2KDˉ2K\bar D2KDˉ and (K+K)Dˉ(K + \sqrt K)\bar D(K+K​)Dˉ.
  • Theorem 3.5 and Corollary 3.6: the factor K+2K+1K + 2\sqrt K + 1K+2K​+1 against Cmax⁡∗C^*_{\max}Cmax∗​ and against Dˉ\bar DDˉ.
  • Rounded schedules serve the original instance (p. 9).
  • The speed rounding: at most ⌊log⁡β(αm)⌋+1\lfloor\log_\beta(\alpha m)\rfloor + 1⌊logβ​(αm)⌋+1 speeds, and the LP value grows by a factor of at most β(1+1/α)\beta(1 + 1/\alpha)β(1+1/α) (p. 10).
  • The "In fact" form of the guarantee, relative to any feasible LP solution (p. 10).

Significance

The result gives the first O(log⁡m)O(\log m)O(logm) guarantee for Q∣prec∣Cmax⁡Q|prec|C_{\max}Q∣prec∣Cmax​, independent of the speeds, and a guarantee depending only on the number of distinct speeds. Through the batching technique of Shmoys, Wein and Williamson it extends to release dates (Corollary 3.8). Since LP also relaxes the preemptive problem, it gives an O(log⁡m)O(\log m)O(logm) bound on the ratio between the nonpreemptive and preemptive optima (Corollaries 3.9, 3.10). The "In fact" form, relative to an arbitrary feasible LP solution, drives the paper's ∑wjCj\sum w_jC_j∑wj​Cj​ algorithm in §4.

The result is proved in the literature but, as far as is known, not formalized. A formal proof requires machine-checking the following:

  • the continuous-time list-scheduling argument for different speeds;
  • the filtering argument of Lin and Vitter;
  • the reduction to logarithmically many speeds, including the off-by-one count of rounded speeds that the page leaves implicit.

Later work gave a combinatorial O(log⁡m)O(\log m)O(logm)-approximation (Chekuri and Bender, 2001) and an O(log⁡m/log⁡log⁡m)O(\log m/\log\log m)O(logm/loglogm)-approximation (Li, 2017). These are not part of this mission.

Difficulty

Graham's argument has two lower bounds:

  1. the total processing along a chain;
  2. the time during which every machine is busy.

With different speeds, the first bound fails: a chain may have been run on slow machines, and its length then says nothing about Cmax⁡∗C^*_{\max}Cmax∗​. Forcing every job onto a fast machine repairs chains but can leave most machines idle, so the second bound fails. The paper only guarantees that all machines of one speed are busy at each moment of an idle period. Making this pay off requires an assignment that controls chain lengths and per-class loads simultaneously. That assignment is the delicate part: Theorem 2.1 is the bookkeeping, while Lemmas 3.2 and 3.4 rely on the LP. Two of the formal steps are routine on paper but fiddly in Lean: time-interval accounting over a continuous-time schedule, and the counting of rounded speed classes.

Formalization scope

  • Representation. Jobs are Fin n and machines Fin m with m≥1m \ge 1m≥1. pj>0p_j > 0pj​>0 and si>0s_i > 0si​>0. ≺\prec≺ is a strict partial order, and a chain is a finite set of pairwise comparable jobs. Cmax⁡C_{\max}Cmax​ is the maximum completion time, or 000 with no jobs.
  • Speed classes. The classes are computed from the speeds, so mk≥1m_k \ge 1mk​≥1 and sˉk>0\bar s_k > 0sˉk​>0 by construction. The Lean index 000 is the paper's fastest class sˉ1\bar s_1sˉ1​.
  • The algorithm as predicates. Speed-based list scheduling is the predicate the proof of Theorem 2.1 uses: jobs run at their assigned speed, and no machine of a job's speed idles while that job is available and unstarted. Every list order and every order of idle machines satisfies it. The assignment algorithm is a predicate allowing every maximizer, since the page does not break ties. Theorems 3.5 and 3.7 quantify over all optimal LP solutions, all such assignments and all such schedules. Existence is supplied by the milestones.
  • Comparator. The bound is stated against every feasible schedule of the same instance, never against the LP value or a best schedule of the rounded instance. A statement asserting only that some good schedule exists would be trivially true (the optimum witnesses it); the goal bounds the schedule the algorithm returns.
  • Constants and logarithms. log⁡m\log mlogm is log⁡2m\log_2 mlog2​m, as the paper specifies. m≥2m \ge 2m≥2 is assumed in Theorem 3.7 and in the "In fact" remark, which are asymptotic in mmm. The O(log⁡m)O(\sqrt{\log m})O(logm​) term is one absolute constant ccc, quantified before the instance, and 1.891.891.89 is the page's number.
  • Generalizations and corrections. Lemmas 3.1–3.4 are stated for every feasible LP solution, since their proofs use only feasibility. The speed rounding is relative to sˉ1\bar s_1sˉ1​, with no normalization. The count of rounded speeds is ⌊log⁡β(αm)⌋+1\lfloor\log_\beta(\alpha m)\rfloor + 1⌊logβ​(αm)⌋+1; the page writes log⁡β(αm)\log_\beta(\alpha m)logβ​(αm).
  • Not formalized. Polynomial running time is not formalized.
  • Out of scope. Corollaries 3.8–3.10, Theorem 3.11 and §4 are excluded.

Proofs of any milestone are welcome. Reusable beyond this mission are the following: the model of nonpreemptive schedules on uniformly related machines with precedence, the speed-based list-scheduling predicate with Theorem 2.1, and the LP.

Selected references

  • F. A. Chudak and D. B. Shmoys, Approximation algorithms for precedence-constrained scheduling problems on parallel machines that run at different speeds, J. Algorithms 30 (1999) 323–343 (authors' manuscript used here). https://doi.org/10.1006/jagm.1998.0987
  • R. L. Graham, Bounds for certain multiprocessing anomalies, Bell System Technical Journal 45 (1966) 1563–1581. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1966.tb01709.x
  • J. M. Jaffe, Efficient scheduling of tasks without full use of processor resources, Theoretical Computer Science 12 (1980) 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3975(80)90002-4
  • J.-H. Lin and J. S. Vitter, ε-approximations with minimum packing constraint violation, STOC 1992, 771–782. https://doi.org/10.1145/129712.129787
  • D. B. Shmoys, J. Wein and D. P. Williamson, Scheduling parallel machines on-line, SIAM J. Computing 24 (1995) 1313–1331. https://doi.org/10.1137/S0097539793248317
  • C. Chekuri and M. A. Bender, An efficient approximation algorithm for minimizing makespan on uniformly related machines, J. Algorithms 41 (2001) 212–224. https://doi.org/10.1006/jagm.2001.1184
  • S. Li, Scheduling to minimize total weighted completion time via time-indexed linear programming relaxations, SIAM J. Computing 46 (2017) 409–440. https://doi.org/10.1137/15M1053163
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Theoretical Computer Science·Captain: wurtle

CLIQUE is NP-CompleteResearch Paper

Prove that CLIQUE is NP-complete by reducing the existing 3-SAT language, KSat.KSAT 3, to it. An instance consists of a finite simple undirected graph and an input threshold; it asks whether the graph contains a clique of at least that size. (https://prove2.me/theorems/d82e8682-c490-4742-a5e5-dd3a0b870b90). The construction specializes Karp’s SAT-to-CLIQUE reduction to 3-SAT.

References:

  • Richard M. Karp. Reducibility Among Combinatorial Problems. Complexity of Computer Computations, 85–103, 1972. Main Theorem, problem 3, p. 94; SAT-to-CLIQUE reduction, p. 97.
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Algorithmic Game TheoryOperations ResearchOptimization·Captain: mikedeng1

Purchasing, Pricing, and Quick Response in the Presence of Strategic Consumers: Under Condition (6), Quick Response Is More Valuable with Strategic Consumers than with Only Myopic OnesResearch Paper

Motivation

Fashion and consumer-electronics retailers sell a product at full price early in a season and mark down what is left. Consumers learn the pattern, and some of them wait for the markdown. Such strategic consumers lower the revenue of the full-price period, and the retailer's stocking decision affects how deep the markdown is expected to be. Quick response — a second, more expensive replenishment placed after demand is observed — is usually valued as a way to match supply with exogenous demand (Fisher and Raman 1996; Cachon and Terwiesch, Matching Supply with Demand, 2005). Cachon and Swinney ask how strategic waiting changes that value.

The source is the authors' working paper of April 2007, revised November 25, 2007, not the 2009 Management Science version, whose numbering and wording may differ. Its answer: with strategic consumers the retailer stocks less (Theorem 1), and under an explicit cost condition, quick response is worth more to a retailer facing strategic consumers than to one facing only myopic consumers (Theorem 3).

Setting

A retailer sells over two periods. It sells at the exogenous full price ppp in period 1 and at a markdown price s∈[0,p]s\in[0,p]s∈[0,p] chosen at the start of period 2. Leftover units are worth 000. First-period demand D≥0D\ge0D≥0 has density fff and distribution function FFF, and fff satisfies the monotone scaled likelihood ratio (MSLR) property: for every λ∈(0,1]\lambda\in(0,1]λ∈(0,1], x↦f(λx)/f(x)x\mapsto f(\lambda x)/f(x)x↦f(λx)/f(x) is monotonic on the support of fff.

The market has three segments:

  • myopic consumers, (1−α)D(1-\alpha)D(1−α)D of them, with value vMv_MvM​, who only buy in period 1;
  • strategic consumers, αD\alpha DαD of them, with value vMv_MvM​ in period 1 and second-period values uniform on [v‾,vˉ][\underline v,\bar v][v​,vˉ];
  • an unlimited pool of bargain hunters with value vBv_BvB​, who only buy on sale.

The standing assumptions are vˉ≤p\bar v\le pvˉ≤p and v‾≥vM−p+vB\underline v\ge v_M-p+v_Bv​≥vM​−p+vB​. Let Gˉ(s)\bar G(s)Gˉ(s) be the fraction of strategic values above sss.

By a threshold argument (Lemma 1), strategic consumers with value below some v^\hat vv^ buy at ppp and the rest wait. A fraction ξ=1−Gˉ(v^)α\xi=1-\bar G(\hat v)\alphaξ=1−Gˉ(v^)α of demand then buys in period 1, and the inventory left for period 2 is I=(q−ξD)+I=(q-\xi D)^+I=(q−ξD)+. The period-2 revenue R(s,I)R(s,I)R(s,I) counts the waiting strategic consumers with value at least sss and, if s≤vBs\le v_Bs≤vB​, the bargain hunters, up to the inventory III. The retailer's expected profit at unit cost ccc is

π(q,v^)=E[pmin⁡(q,ξD)−cq+sup⁡0≤s≤pR(s,I)].\pi(q,\hat v)=\mathbb E\Big[p\min(q,\xi D)-cq+\sup_{0\le s\le p}R(s,I)\Big].π(q,v^)=E[pmin(q,ξD)−cq+0≤s≤psup​R(s,I)].

With quick response, units ordered before the season cost c1c_1c1​ and units ordered after observing DDD cost c2c_2c2​, with c1≤c2≤pc_1\le c_2\le pc1​≤c2​≤p. The second order covers all first-period demand and may add stock for the sale. The resulting profit is πr(q,v^)\pi_r(q,\hat v)πr​(q,v^).

In the sale period, waiting strategic consumers are rationed: they effectively face the inventory θI\theta IθI, where θ∈[0,1]\theta\in[0,1]θ∈[0,1] measures their place in the queue. A strategic consumer with value v^\hat vv^ who waits gains, in expectation,

ψ(v^)=(v^−vB)Pr⁡(D<Dl and a unit is received),\psi(\hat v)=(\hat v-v_B)\Pr(D<D_l\text{ and a unit is received}),ψ(v^)=(v^−vB​)Pr(D<Dl​ and a unit is received),

where DlD_lDl​ is the demand level below which the retailer clears stock at sl=vBs_l=v_Bsl​=vB​. A rational expectations equilibrium (q∗,v∗)(q^*,v^*)(q∗,v∗) is a pair in which q∗q^*q∗ maximizes π(⋅,v∗)\pi(\cdot,v^*)π(⋅,v∗) and v∗v^*v∗ is a best response of consumers who correctly expect q∗q^*q∗. The superscript mmm denotes the benchmark with only myopic consumers (α=0\alpha=0α=0): πm\pi^mπm and πrm\pi^m_rπrm​ are the optimal myopic profits without and with quick response.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 3

Assume MSLR and no rationing, 0<α≤10<\alpha\le10<α≤1, vB<c1<pv_B<c_1<pvB​<c1​<p, c1≤c2≤pc_1\le c_2\le pc1​≤c2​≤p, and condition (6):

vM−pvˉ−vB ≥ c2−c1c2−vB.\frac{v_M-p}{\bar v-v_B}\ \ge\ \frac{c_2-c_1}{c_2-v_B}.vˉ−vB​vM​−p​ ≥ c2​−vB​c2​−c1​​.

Let (q∗,v∗)(q^*,v^*)(q∗,v∗) be any equilibrium without quick response, (qr∗,vr∗)(q_r^*,v_r^*)(qr∗​,vr∗​) any equilibrium with it, and πm\pi^mπm, πrm\pi_r^mπrm​ the myopic optima. Then

πr(qr∗,vr∗)−π(q∗,v∗) ≥ πrm−πm.\pi_r(q_r^*,v_r^*)-\pi(q^*,v^*)\ \ge\ \pi_r^m-\pi^m .πr​(qr∗​,vr∗​)−π(q∗,v∗) ≥ πrm​−πm.

Milestones

The milestones follow the paper's path:

  • the threshold structure (Lemma 1);
  • the optimal sale price (Lemma 2) and quasi-concavity of π\piπ with first-order condition (2) (Lemma 3);
  • the fill probability and the limits of the best response (Lemma 4);
  • existence and the comparison q∗≤qmq^*\le q^mq∗≤qm, π∗≤πm\pi^*\le\pi^mπ∗≤πm (Theorem 1), with the myopic newsvendor F(qm)=(p−c)/(p−vB)F(q^m)=(p-c)/(p-v_B)F(qm)=(p−c)/(p−vB​);
  • the quick-response analogues (Lemma 5, Theorem 2 (i)), with the myopic fractile F(qrm)=(c2−c1)/(c2−vB)F(q^m_r)=(c_2-c_1)/(c_2-v_B)F(qrm​)=(c2​−c1​)/(c2​−vB​);
  • the statement that under (6) every equilibrium with quick response has vr∗=vˉv^*_r=\bar vvr∗​=vˉ (Theorem 2, last sentence).

Corollary 1 is the percentage form, Δ/π∗≥Δm/πm\Delta/\pi^*\ge\Delta_m/\pi^mΔ/π∗≥Δm​/πm.

Significance

Theorem 3 identifies a second channel through which quick response creates value. Beyond matching supply to demand, it lets the retailer keep its initial stock low enough that a deep markdown becomes unlikely, so strategic consumers buy at full price. Under (6), all of them do. Quick response thus reduces strategic waiting without withholding availability, unlike the inventory-signalling remedies in the literature, and the theorem quantifies when this effect dominates.

The results are proved in the working paper, partly in a technical appendix. No machine-checked version of them, or of the underlying markdown game, is known. A formalization pins down several statements that the paper states loosely:

  • the uniqueness claims of Lemmas 2 and 5;
  • the case condition of Lemma 4 (i), which is false as printed;
  • the sign in display (5);
  • the boundary cases of the threshold lemma.

It also produces reusable components: the newsvendor with salvage and the reactive-capacity fractile under a general density, and a rational-expectations equilibrium predicate for a retailer–consumer game.

Difficulty

The profit π(⋅,v^)\pi(\cdot,\hat v)π(⋅,v^) is not concave: with strategic consumers it is concave–convex (Figure 4 of the paper). The newsvendor argument therefore does not give a unique optimal order, and Lemma 3's quasi-concavity rests on MSLR in a short appendix step.

Existence (Theorem 1) needs a fixed point of the map q↦q\mapstoq↦ best response, but the consumer best response is a correspondence, not a function, so the printed intermediate-value argument does not apply directly. Theorem 3 needs a statement about every equilibrium with quick response, while Theorem 2's proof only exhibits one. Ruling out an equilibrium with vr∗<vˉv_r^*<\bar vvr∗​<vˉ requires comparing the derivative (4) of πr\pi_rπr​ with the myopic derivative along the whole demand distribution.

Formalization scope

Lean represents prices, quantities and valuations as reals, demand by a density f:R→Rf:\mathbb R\to\mathbb Rf:R→R on [0,∞)[0,\infty)[0,∞), and expectations as Lebesgue integrals against fff. The model carries the standing assumptions of §3 as fields, plus the following additions and corrections, each disclosed in the item notes:

  • vB>0v_B>0vB​>0: DlD_lDl​ divides by sl=vBs_l=v_Bsl​=vB​.
  • p<vMp<v_Mp<vM​, strengthening vM≥pv_M\ge pvM​≥p: Lemma 4 (ii) and Theorem 2's last claim need it.
  • A finite mean: πr\pi_rπr​ contains E[pξD]\mathbb E[p\xi D]E[pξD].
  • The paper's "θc≤θ\theta_c\le\thetaθc​≤θ" (p. 15) is replaced by the no-rationing condition slGˉ(v^)≤θsmGˉ(sm)s_l\bar G(\hat v)\le\theta s_m\bar G(s_m)sl​Gˉ(v^)≤θsm​Gˉ(sm​) for every belief, which is exactly Dl≤DθD_l\le D_\thetaDl​≤Dθ​. The printed condition agrees with it only when sm=v^s_m=\hat vsm​=v^.
  • Lemma 4 (i) is stated with the corrected case split.
  • Lemmas 2 and 5 claim uniqueness only off the tie points.
  • c<pc<pc<p is the reading of the "p−c>0p-c>0p−c>0" step in the proof of Theorem 1.
  • In the quick-response profit, ξD\xi DξD replaces the DDD that the proof of Theorem 2 prints.

Optimal revenues are suprema over all prices s∈[0,p]s\in[0,p]s∈[0,p] (and q2≥0q_2\ge0q2​≥0 with quick response). "Optimal order" means a maximizer over all q≥0q\ge0q≥0, never a stationary point, and the myopic benchmarks are the same functions at α=0\alpha=0α=0. Defining the optimal revenue by Lemma 2's closed form would make Lemma 2 and the first-order conditions definitional; it is not done.

The fill rate is min⁡{(1−ξ)x,θI}/((1−ξ)x)\min\{(1-\xi)x,\theta I\}/((1-\xi)x)min{(1−ξ)x,θI}/((1−ξ)x), set to 111 when no strategic consumer waits. With Lean's 0/0=00/0=00/0=0 instead, vˉ\bar vvˉ would be a best response to every order and Theorem 2's last claim would be trivial.

A complete development needs:

  • differentiation under the integral for piecewise-smooth integrands;
  • quasi-concavity from a single-crossing derivative;
  • a fixed-point argument for the equilibrium correspondence;
  • the newsvendor and reactive-capacity fractiles.

The last two are reusable beyond this mission. Proofs of any milestone, alternative existence arguments, and sorry-free proofs of the newsvendor items are welcome. The comparison "qr∗≤q∗q_r^*\le q^*qr∗​≤q∗, πr∗≥π∗\pi_r^*\ge\pi^*πr∗​≥π∗" of Theorem 2 and §8's numerical study are outside the scope.

Selected references

  • G. P. Cachon, R. Swinney, Purchasing, Pricing, and Quick Response in the Presence of Strategic Consumers, working paper, revised November 25, 2007; published in Management Science 55(3), 2009. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1080.0948
  • M. L. Fisher, A. Raman, Reducing the Cost of Demand Uncertainty Through Accurate Response to Early Sales, Operations Research 44(1), 1996. https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.44.1.87
  • J. F. Muth, Rational Expectations and the Theory of Price Movements, Econometrica 29(3), 1961. https://doi.org/10.2307/1909635
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Bandit AlgorithmsMachine LearningProbability+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Kullback–Leibler Upper Confidence Bounds for Optimal Sequential Allocation II: Empirical KL-UCB Draws a Suboptimal Arm log(T)/K_inf(ν_a, μ*) + O((log T)^{4/5} log log T) TimesResearch Paper

Motivation

In a stochastic multi-armed bandit a player repeatedly chooses one of KKK arms and receives a random reward drawn from that arm's unknown distribution; the aim is to pull suboptimal arms as rarely as possible. Lai and Robbins (1985) and, for general models, Burnetas and Katehakis (1996) showed that any reasonable strategy must pull a suboptimal arm aaa at least (1+o(1))log⁡T/Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)(1+o(1))\log T/\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)(1+o(1))logT/Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆) times in TTT rounds, where Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ is a minimal Kullback–Leibler divergence defined below. A strategy whose expected number of pulls matches this constant is asymptotically optimal.

For rewards in [0,1][0,1][0,1], classical index policies such as UCB (Auer, Cesa-Bianchi and Fischer, 2002) achieve O(log⁡T)O(\log T)O(logT) pulls but with a constant governed by the gap of the means, not by Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​. Cappé, Garivier, Maillard, Munos and Stoltz, Kullback–Leibler upper confidence bounds for optimal sequential allocation, Ann. Statist. 41(3), 2013 (arXiv:1210.1136v4), introduce the KL-UCB family of index policies and prove finite-time bounds whose leading term is the Lai–Robbins/Burnetas–Katehakis constant. This mission formalizes their result for empirical KL-UCB (Algorithm 3, Theorem 2), which is asymptotically optimal in the nonparametric model of finitely supported distributions on [0,1][0,1][0,1]. A companion mission covers kl-UCB in one-parameter exponential families (Theorem 1).

Timeline: Lai and Robbins (1985), lower bound for parametric families; Burnetas and Katehakis (1996), lower bound and asymptotically optimal policies for general models; Honda and Takemura (2010, 2011), the DMED algorithm, asymptotically optimal for finitely supported and bounded rewards; Cappé et al. (2013), the first index policy with a non-asymptotic bound whose leading term is optimal in this model.

Setting

A bandit has K≥2K\ge2K≥2 arms with reward distributions ν1,…,νK\nu_1,\dots,\nu_Kν1​,…,νK​ in a known model F\mathcal FF: the set of probability distributions over [0,1][0,1][0,1] with finite support. Write E(ν)=∫x dν(x)\mathrm E(\nu)=\int x\,d\nu(x)E(ν)=∫xdν(x), μa=E(νa)\mu_a=\mathrm E(\nu_a)μa​=E(νa​) and μ⋆=max⁡aμa\mu^\star=\max_a\mu_aμ⋆=maxa​μa​; arm aaa is suboptimal if μa<μ⋆\mu_a<\mu^\starμa​<μ⋆. At each round t≥1t\ge1t≥1 the player picks an arm AtA_tAt​ based on past observations and observes a reward drawn from νAt\nu_{A_t}νAt​​. Na(T)=∑t=1TI{At=a}N_a(T)=\sum_{t=1}^T\mathbb I\{A_t=a\}Na​(T)=∑t=1T​I{At​=a} is the number of pulls of arm aaa up to round TTT.

Equivalently, each arm has a reward stack Xa,1,Xa,2,…X_{a,1},X_{a,2},\dotsXa,1​,Xa,2​,… of i.i.d. draws from νa\nu_aνa​, all stacks independent, and the nnn-th pull of arm aaa returns Xa,nX_{a,n}Xa,n​. The empirical distribution of the first nnn rewards is ν^a,n=1n∑k=1nδXa,k\hat\nu_{a,n}=\frac1n\sum_{k=1}^n\delta_{X_{a,k}}ν^a,n​=n1​∑k=1n​δXa,k​​, and ν^a(t)=ν^a,Na(t)\hat\nu_a(t)=\hat\nu_{a,N_a(t)}ν^a​(t)=ν^a,Na​(t)​.

The minimal divergence is

Kinf⁡(ν,μ)=inf⁡{KL(ν,ν′):ν′∈F, E(ν′)>μ}∈[0,+∞],\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu,\mu)=\inf\bigl\{\mathrm{KL}(\nu,\nu'):\nu'\in\mathcal F,\ \mathrm E(\nu')>\mu\bigr\}\in[0,+\infty],Kinf​(ν,μ)=inf{KL(ν,ν′):ν′∈F, E(ν′)>μ}∈[0,+∞],

the smallest Kullback–Leibler divergence from ν\nuν to a distribution of the model whose mean exceeds μ\muμ.

Empirical KL-UCB (Algorithm 3) pulls each arm once, then for t=K,K+1,…t=K,K+1,\dotst=K,K+1,… pulls an arm maximizing

Ua(t)=sup⁡{E(ν):ν∈M1(Supp(ν^a(t))∪{1}), KL(ν^a(t),ν)≤f(t)Na(t)},U_a(t)=\sup\Bigl\{\mathrm E(\nu):\nu\in\mathfrak M_1\bigl(\mathrm{Supp}(\hat\nu_a(t))\cup\{1\}\bigr),\ \mathrm{KL}(\hat\nu_a(t),\nu)\le\frac{f(t)}{N_a(t)}\Bigr\},Ua​(t)=sup{E(ν):ν∈M1​(Supp(ν^a​(t))∪{1}), KL(ν^a​(t),ν)≤Na​(t)f(t)​},

where M1(A)\mathfrak M_1(A)M1​(A) is the set of probability distributions carried by AAA and f(t)=log⁡t+log⁡log⁡tf(t)=\log t+\log\log tf(t)=logt+loglogt. The added point 111 is essential: without it the index is the empirical-likelihood bound, which equals the empirical mean when every observation is 000.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 2 (pp. 15–16)

Assume μa>0\mu_a>0μa​>0 for all arms and μ⋆<1\mu^\star<1μ⋆<1. There is a constant M(νa,μ⋆)>0M(\nu_a,\mu^\star)>0M(νa​,μ⋆)>0 depending only on νa\nu_aνa​ and μ⋆\mu^\starμ⋆ such that, for every suboptimal arm aaa and all T≥3T\ge3T≥3,

E[Na(T)]≤log⁡TKinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)+36(μ⋆)4(log⁡T)4/5log⁡log⁡T+(72(μ⋆)4+2μ⋆(1−μ⋆)Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)2)(log⁡T)4/5+(1−μ⋆)2M(νa,μ⋆)2(μ⋆)2(log⁡T)2/5+log⁡log⁡TKinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)+2μ⋆(1−μ⋆)Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)2+4.\begin{aligned}\mathbb E[N_a(T)]\le{}&\frac{\log T}{\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)}+\frac{36}{(\mu^\star)^4}(\log T)^{4/5}\log\log T+\Bigl(\frac{72}{(\mu^\star)^4}+\frac{2\mu^\star}{(1-\mu^\star)\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)^2}\Bigr)(\log T)^{4/5}\\&+\frac{(1-\mu^\star)^2M(\nu_a,\mu^\star)}{2(\mu^\star)^2}(\log T)^{2/5}+\frac{\log\log T}{\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)}+\frac{2\mu^\star}{(1-\mu^\star)\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)^2}+4.\end{aligned}E[Na​(T)]≤​Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)logT​+(μ⋆)436​(logT)4/5loglogT+((μ⋆)472​+(1−μ⋆)Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)22μ⋆​)(logT)4/5+2(μ⋆)2(1−μ⋆)2M(νa​,μ⋆)​(logT)2/5+Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)loglogT​+(1−μ⋆)Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)22μ⋆​+4.​

The constants are the paper's. MMM is the one quantity the main text does not give; it is existentially quantified, before the bandit, so it may depend on nothing but (νa,μ⋆)(\nu_a,\mu^\star)(νa​,μ⋆).

Milestones

  1. (7), p. 9: the sets Cμ,γ={ν:∃ν′∈F, E(ν′)>μ, KL(ν,ν′)≤γ}\mathcal C_{\mu,\gamma}=\{\nu:\exists\nu'\in\mathcal F,\ \mathrm E(\nu')>\mu,\ \mathrm{KL}(\nu,\nu')\le\gamma\}Cμ,γ​={ν:∃ν′∈F, E(ν′)>μ, KL(ν,ν′)≤γ} satisfy Cμ,γ⊆{ν:Kinf⁡(ν,μ)≤γ}\mathcal C_{\mu,\gamma}\subseteq\{\nu:\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu,\mu)\le\gamma\}Cμ,γ​⊆{ν:Kinf​(ν,μ)≤γ}.
  2. (5), p. 9: the decomposition {At+1=a}⊆{μ†≥Ua⋆(t)}∪{μ†<Ua(t), At+1=a}\{A_{t+1}=a\}\subseteq\{\mu^\dagger\ge U_{a^\star}(t)\}\cup\{\mu^\dagger<U_a(t),\ A_{t+1}=a\}{At+1​=a}⊆{μ†≥Ua⋆​(t)}∪{μ†<Ua​(t), At+1​=a}.
  3. The display after (7), p. 9: E[Na(T)]≤1+∑t=KT−1P{μ†≥Ua⋆(t)}+∑t=KT−1P{ν^a,Na(t)∈Cμ†,f(t)/Na(t), At+1=a}\mathbb E[N_a(T)]\le1+\sum_{t=K}^{T-1}\mathbb P\{\mu^\dagger\ge U_{a^\star}(t)\}+\sum_{t=K}^{T-1}\mathbb P\{\hat\nu_{a,N_a(t)}\in\mathcal C_{\mu^\dagger,f(t)/N_a(t)},\ A_{t+1}=a\}E[Na​(T)]≤1+∑t=KT−1​P{μ†≥Ua⋆​(t)}+∑t=KT−1​P{ν^a,Na​(t)​∈Cμ†,f(t)/Na​(t)​, At+1​=a}.
  4. (8), p. 10: the second sum is at most ∑n=1T−KP{ν^a,n∈Cμ†,f(T)/n}\sum_{n=1}^{T-K}\mathbb P\{\hat\nu_{a,n}\in\mathcal C_{\mu^\dagger,f(T)/n}\}∑n=1T−K​P{ν^a,n​∈Cμ†,f(T)/n​}.
  5. (9)–(10), p. 10: E[Na(T)]≤f(T)/Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)+∑n>n0P{ν^a,n∈Cμ†,f(T)/n}+∑tP{μ†≥Ua⋆(t)}+2\mathbb E[N_a(T)]\le f(T)/\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)+\sum_{n>n_0}\mathbb P\{\hat\nu_{a,n}\in\mathcal C_{\mu^\dagger,f(T)/n}\}+\sum_t\mathbb P\{\mu^\dagger\ge U_{a^\star}(t)\}+2E[Na​(T)]≤f(T)/Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)+∑n>n0​​P{ν^a,n​∈Cμ†,f(T)/n​}+∑t​P{μ†≥Ua⋆​(t)}+2 with n0=⌈f(T)/Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)⌉n_0=\lceil f(T)/\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)\rceiln0​=⌈f(T)/Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆)⌉.
  6. p. 15: the supremum defining Ua(t)U_a(t)Ua​(t) over F\mathcal FF equals the supremum over M1(Supp(ν^a(t))∪{1})\mathfrak M_1(\mathrm{Supp}(\hat\nu_a(t))\cup\{1\})M1​(Supp(ν^a​(t))∪{1}).
  7. Implicit in Theorem 2: 0<Kinf⁡(ν,μ)<∞0<\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu,\mu)<\infty0<Kinf​(ν,μ)<∞ for ν∈F\nu\in\mathcal Fν∈F and E(ν)<μ<1\mathrm E(\nu)<\mu<1E(ν)<μ<1.
  8. Proposition 1, p. 20: for nnn i.i.d. observations from any ν0\nu_0ν0​ on [0,1][0,1][0,1] with E(ν0)∈(0,1)\mathrm E(\nu_0)\in(0,1)E(ν0​)∈(0,1) and every ε>0\varepsilon>0ε>0,
P{U(ν^n,ε)≤E(ν0)}≤P{Kinf⁡(ν^n,E(ν0))≥ε}≤e(n+2)exp⁡(−nε).\mathbb P\{U(\hat\nu_n,\varepsilon)\le\mathrm E(\nu_0)\}\le\mathbb P\{\mathcal K_{\inf}(\hat\nu_n,\mathrm E(\nu_0))\ge\varepsilon\}\le e(n+2)\exp(-n\varepsilon).P{U(ν^n​,ε)≤E(ν0​)}≤P{Kinf​(ν^n​,E(ν0​))≥ε}≤e(n+2)exp(−nε).

Significance

Theorem 2 gives a finite-time bound whose leading term, log⁡T/Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)\log T/\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)logT/Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆), equals the Burnetas–Katehakis lower bound for the model F\mathcal FF. Hence empirical KL-UCB is asymptotically optimal among all strategies for finitely supported rewards in [0,1][0,1][0,1], and the regret ∑a(μ⋆−μa)E[Na(T)]\sum_a(\mu^\star-\mu_a)\mathbb E[N_a(T)]∑a​(μ⋆−μa​)E[Na​(T)] inherits the optimal constant. Since Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆) is at least the Bernoulli divergence of the means, and usually larger, the bound improves on kl-UCB and UCB for the same rewards. Proposition 1 is a non-asymptotic coverage bound for the empirical-likelihood upper confidence bound with the point 111 added, valid for every law on [0,1][0,1][0,1], not only finitely supported ones.

The proofs of Theorem 2 and Proposition 1 are in the paper's supplemental article (Appendix B), not in the main text; no machine-checked proof of either exists. The mission produces formal statements of the theorem and of the proof skeleton (5)–(10) that the paper shares with Theorem 1, and of the two facts about Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ that the bound needs. A formal proof would supply an explicit M(νa,μ⋆)M(\nu_a,\mu^\star)M(νa​,μ⋆), which the paper defines only inside the supplement.

Difficulty

The skeleton (5)–(10) is elementary bookkeeping; the difficulty lies in the two sums it leaves, both of which must be shown to be o(log⁡T)o(\log T)o(logT) with explicit constants. The second, ∑nP{ν^a,n∈Cμ†,f(T)/n}\sum_n\mathbb P\{\hat\nu_{a,n}\in\mathcal C_{\mu^\dagger,f(T)/n}\}∑n​P{ν^a,n​∈Cμ†,f(T)/n​}, needs a deviation estimate for the empirical Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ of a suboptimal arm that is precise enough to keep the leading constant 1/Kinf⁡(νa,μ⋆)1/\mathcal K_{\inf}(\nu_a,\mu^\star)1/Kinf​(νa​,μ⋆): a bound that only controls the deviation of the empirical mean loses it, since Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ depends on the whole distribution. The first, ∑tP{μ†≥Ua⋆(t)}\sum_t\mathbb P\{\mu^\dagger\ge U_{a^\star}(t)\}∑t​P{μ†≥Ua⋆​(t)}, concerns the optimal arm after a random number of pulls Na⋆(t)N_{a^\star}(t)Na⋆​(t), which the algorithm itself determines, so fixed-sample bounds such as Proposition 1 do not apply directly. Both need regularity of Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ as a function of a distribution in an infinite-dimensional model, where none of the closed forms of the exponential-family case is available.

Formalization scope

Arms are Fin K, and arm aaa of the paper is index a−1a-1a−1. The bandit is the platform's stack-of-rewards model RegretBandits.Stochastic.IsStochasticBandit: Xa,kX_{a,k}Xa,k​ (indexed from 000) are independent, identically distributed within each arm, with mean μa\mu_aμa​. Pull counts and μ⋆\mu^\starμ⋆ are the platform's pullCount and bestMean. Added to the page, and disclosed in each statement: every reward lies in [0,1][0,1][0,1] pathwise (a representation of "νa\nu_aνa​ is carried by [0,1][0,1][0,1]"), every arm choice is measurable, and in the goal the strategy is non-anticipating (At+1A_{t+1}At+1​ is measurable with respect to the arms and rewards of rounds 1,…,t1,\dots,t1,…,t). A run of Algorithm 3 is a pathwise predicate: rounds 1,…,K1,\dots,K1,…,K pull distinct arms, and every later round pulls a maximizer of U⋅(t)U_\cdot(t)U⋅​(t), with ties broken by any rule. KL is Mathlib's InformationTheory.klDiv in [0,+∞][0,+\infty][0,+∞], with the empirical distribution as first argument. Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ is kept in [0,+∞][0,+\infty][0,+∞] and converted to a real number only in the final bounds, where it is finite and positive. Probabilities of events whose measurability is not asserted are outer probabilities. The page's ∑n≥n0+1\sum_{n\ge n_0+1}∑n≥n0​+1​ in (10) is stated as the finite sum over n0<n≤T−Kn_0<n\le T-Kn0​<n≤T−K that (8) produces. The probability space of Theorem 2 lies in Type.

Trivializing formalizations are ruled out. The index is a supremum over a set that is nonempty (it contains E(ν^a(t))\mathrm E(\hat\nu_a(t))E(ν^a​(t))) and bounded above, so it is never Lean's junk value. Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ and Cμ,γ\mathcal C_{\mu,\gamma}Cμ,γ​ range over F\mathcal FF, not over all measures. The run predicate has both the initialization and the argmax clause. MMM is quantified before the bandit and the horizon.

Reusable beyond this mission: Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ for F\mathcal FF, the empirical-likelihood bound UUU of (15), and Proposition 1, a concentration inequality for empirical Kinf⁡\mathcal K_{\inf}Kinf​ that applies to any bounded i.i.d. sample. Proofs of any milestone are welcome, as are proofs of the skeleton (5)–(10) that also apply to the companion kl-UCB mission.

Selected references

  • O. Cappé, A. Garivier, O.-A. Maillard, R. Munos, G. Stoltz, Kullback–Leibler upper confidence bounds for optimal sequential allocation, Ann. Statist. 41(3):1516–1541, 2013. arXiv:1210.1136v4, doi:10.1214/13-AOS1119; supplement doi:10.1214/13-AOS1119SUPP.
  • T. L. Lai, H. Robbins, Asymptotically efficient adaptive allocation rules, Adv. Appl. Math. 6(1):4–22, 1985. doi:10.1016/0196-8858(85)90002-8
  • A. N. Burnetas, M. N. Katehakis, Optimal adaptive policies for sequential allocation problems, Adv. Appl. Math. 17(2):122–142, 1996. doi:10.1006/aama.1996.0007
  • J. Honda, A. Takemura, An asymptotically optimal bandit algorithm for bounded support models, COLT 2010, 67–79.
  • P. Auer, N. Cesa-Bianchi, P. Fischer, Finite-time analysis of the multiarmed bandit problem, Mach. Learn. 47:235–256, 2002. doi:10.1023/A:1013689704352
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Convex OptimizationOperations ResearchOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

The Exact Feasibility of Randomized Solutions of Uncertain Convex Programs: Fully-Supported Problems Attain the Binomial Violation Tail ExactlyResearch Paper

Motivation

Many design problems in control, finance and engineering are convex programs whose constraints depend on an uncertain parameter δ\deltaδ: a solution must satisfy x∈Xδx\in\mathcal X_\deltax∈Xδ​ for every δ\deltaδ in a possibly infinite set Δ\DeltaΔ. Enforcing all constraints (robust optimization) is often intractable or overly conservative. The scenario approach draws NNN independent samples of δ\deltaδ, solves the convex program with those NNN constraints only, and asks how likely it is that the resulting solution violates a fresh constraint. The question matters wherever a randomized design is certified by a confidence statement, from robust control to chance-constrained portfolio selection.

Timeline.

  • Calafiore and Campi (Math. Program. 2005; IEEE TAC 2006) introduced the method and bounded the probability that the violation exceeds ε\varepsilonε by a quantity of order (Nd)(1−ε)N−d\binom Nd(1-\varepsilon)^{N-d}(dN​)(1−ε)N−d. The bound is valid but loose.
  • Campi and Garatti (SIAM J. Optim. 2008, this mission's source) proved the bound ∑i=0d−1(Ni)εi(1−ε)N−i\sum_{i=0}^{d-1}\binom Ni\varepsilon^i(1-\varepsilon)^{N-i}∑i=0d−1​(iN​)εi(1−ε)N−i for every convex problem satisfying existence and uniqueness of solutions. They showed it is attained with equality by every fully-supported problem, so it cannot be improved without further assumptions.
  • Later work extended the result to non-unique solutions, constraint removal, and non-convex decisions (Campi and Garatti, Introduction to the Scenario Approach, SIAM 2018).

Setting

Let (Δ,D,P)(\Delta,\mathcal D,\mathbb P)(Δ,D,P) be a probability space, c∈Rdc\in\mathbb R^dc∈Rd with d≥1d\ge1d≥1, and let X⊆Rd\mathcal X\subseteq\mathbb R^dX⊆Rd and Xδ⊆Rd\mathcal X_\delta\subseteq\mathbb R^dXδ​⊆Rd (δ∈Δ\delta\in\Deltaδ∈Δ) be convex closed sets. The violation probability of a point xxx is

V(x)=P{δ∈Δ: x∉Xδ}.V(x)=\mathbb P\{\delta\in\Delta:\ x\notin\mathcal X_\delta\}.V(x)=P{δ∈Δ: x∈/Xδ​}.

For a multi-extraction (δ(1),…,δ(m))∈Δm(\delta^{(1)},\dots,\delta^{(m)})\in\Delta^m(δ(1),…,δ(m))∈Δm, the program PmP_mPm​ minimises c⊤xc^\top xc⊤x over x∈X∩⋂i=1mXδ(i)x\in\mathcal X\cap\bigcap_{i=1}^m\mathcal X_{\delta^{(i)}}x∈X∩⋂i=1m​Xδ(i)​. It is assumed that every PmP_mPm​ has a unique solution xm∗x^*_mxm∗​. A constraint δ(r)\delta^{(r)}δ(r) is a support constraint of PmP_mPm​ if its removal changes the solution. A convex PmP_mPm​ has at most ddd support constraints (Proposition 2.2). The problem is fully-supported if, for every m≥dm\ge dm≥d, the program PmP_mPm​ built from mmm independent samples has exactly ddd support constraints with Pm\mathbb P^mPm-probability one.

Two further objects carry the argument. For I⊆{1,…,m}\mathcal I\subseteq\{1,\dots,m\}I⊆{1,…,m} of cardinality ddd, SIS_{\mathcal I}SI​ is the set of multi-extractions whose support constraints have exactly the indexes in I\mathcal II. The violation law is

F(α)=Pd{V(xd∗)≤α},F(\alpha)=\mathbb P^d\{V(x^*_d)\le\alpha\},F(α)=Pd{V(xd∗​)≤α},

the distribution of the violation of the solution built from ddd samples.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 2.4, equation (2.3)

For a fully-supported problem, every N≥dN\ge dN≥d and every ε∈[0,1]\varepsilon\in[0,1]ε∈[0,1],

PN{V(xN∗)>ε}=∑i=0d−1(Ni)εi(1−ε)N−i.\mathbb P^N\{V(x^*_N)>\varepsilon\}=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1}\binom Ni\varepsilon^i(1-\varepsilon)^{N-i}.PN{V(xN∗​)>ε}=i=0∑d−1​(iN​)εi(1−ε)N−i.

Milestones (PART 1 of §3)

  • Proposition 2.2: at most ddd support constraints.
  • SIˉ⊆S~IˉS_{\bar{\mathcal I}}\subseteq\widetilde S_{\bar{\mathcal I}}SIˉ​⊆SIˉ​ for Iˉ={1,…,d}\bar{\mathcal I}=\{1,\dots,d\}Iˉ={1,…,d}, where S~Iˉ\widetilde S_{\bar{\mathcal I}}SIˉ​ is the set where δ(d+1),…,δ(m)\delta^{(d+1)},\dots,\delta^{(m)}δ(d+1),…,δ(m) are not violated by the solution generated by δ(1),…,δ(d)\delta^{(1)},\dots,\delta^{(d)}δ(1),…,δ(d); and S~Iˉ⊆SIˉ\widetilde S_{\bar{\mathcal I}}\subseteq S_{\bar{\mathcal I}}SIˉ​⊆SIˉ​ up to a probability-zero set.
  • (3.3): Pm{SI}=∫01(1−α)m−dF(dα)\mathbb P^m\{S_{\mathcal I}\}=\int_0^1(1-\alpha)^{m-d}F(\mathrm d\alpha)Pm{SI​}=∫01​(1−α)m−dF(dα) for every I\mathcal II of cardinality ddd.
  • (3.4): (md)∫01(1−α)m−dF(dα)=1\binom md\int_0^1(1-\alpha)^{m-d}F(\mathrm d\alpha)=1(dm​)∫01​(1−α)m−dF(dα)=1 for all m≥dm\ge dm≥d.
  • Moment uniqueness: F(α)=αdF(\alpha)=\alpha^dF(α)=αd is the only distribution on [0,1][0,1][0,1] satisfying (3.4).
  • (3.2): F(α)=αdF(\alpha)=\alpha^dF(α)=αd.
  • Partition chain: PN{V(xN∗)>ε}=(Nd)∫(ε,1](1−α)N−dF(dα)\mathbb P^N\{V(x^*_N)>\varepsilon\}=\binom Nd\int_{(\varepsilon,1]}(1-\alpha)^{N-d}F(\mathrm d\alpha)PN{V(xN∗​)>ε}=(dN​)∫(ε,1]​(1−α)N−dF(dα).
  • Integration by parts: (Nd)∫ε1(1−α)N−d d αd−1 dα=∑i=0d−1(Ni)εi(1−ε)N−i\binom Nd\int_\varepsilon^1(1-\alpha)^{N-d}\,d\,\alpha^{d-1}\,\mathrm d\alpha=\sum_{i=0}^{d-1}\binom Ni\varepsilon^i(1-\varepsilon)^{N-i}(dN​)∫ε1​(1−α)N−ddαd−1dα=∑i=0d−1​(iN​)εi(1−ε)N−i.

Significance

The result. Equation (2.3) shows that the scenario bound (2.2) is tight: no bound that depends only on NNN, ddd and ε\varepsilonε can be smaller, because a fully-supported problem attains it. The distribution of V(xN∗)V(x^*_N)V(xN∗​) is then a Beta law, PN{V(xN∗)≤ε}\mathbb P^N\{V(x^*_N)\le\varepsilon\}PN{V(xN∗​)≤ε} being the probability that a Binomial(N,ε)\mathrm{Binomial}(N,\varepsilon)Binomial(N,ε) variable is at least ddd, the same for every fully-supported problem. This is what fixes the sample sizes used in practice: NNN is chosen so that the binomial tail is below a confidence level β\betaβ. Fact (3.2), that V(xd∗)V(x^*_d)V(xd∗​) has distribution function αd\alpha^dαd whatever the problem, is a distribution-free statement of independent interest.

Formalizing it. The result is proved in the source. As far as is known it has no machine-checked proof. The goal statement is already posed on the platform, and this mission supplies the paper's proof structure as milestones. Two milestones are reusable outside the scenario approach: the uniqueness of a distribution on [0,1][0,1][0,1] given the moments ∫(1−α)k dF=1/(d+kd)\int(1-\alpha)^k\,\mathrm dF=1/\binom{d+k}d∫(1−α)kdF=1/(dd+k​), and the incomplete-beta identity for binomial tails.

Difficulty

The obvious route would compute the law of V(xN∗)V(x^*_N)V(xN∗​) directly, but it depends on the geometry of the constraints. The paper never computes it. It obtains the law of V(xd∗)V(x^*_d)V(xd∗​) only implicitly, through the infinite family of identities (3.4), and recovers it by a uniqueness theorem for moment problems. Two points need care. First, full support holds only almost surely: duplicated samples, for instance, produce programs with fewer than ddd support constraints, so every set identity holds only up to null sets. Second, the claim that removing a non-support constraint keeps the first ddd constraints as the only support constraints uses Proposition 2.2. Two identical non-support constraints show that a constraint can become a support constraint after another is removed, unless the count is bounded by ddd.

Formalization scope

Goal. The goal is the already-posed platform statement ScenarioApproach.Generalization.violation_tail_eq_binomial_sum_of_fullySupported (theorem id cffaa932-832c-42ca-9e81-1848ffab7e34), referenced as it stands and not restated. Proposition 2.2 is the platform statement card_support_constraints_le_dim (f70e8aa3-…). This mission adds the PART 1 steps as milestones under ScenarioExact.PartOne.

Representation. Decisions are vectors in EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin d). A multi-extraction is ω : Fin m → Δ, with 0-based indexes, so Iˉ\bar{\mathcal I}Iˉ is {i:i<d}\{i : i<d\}{i:i<d} and "δ(d+1),…,δ(m)\delta^{(d+1)},\dots,\delta^{(m)}δ(d+1),…,δ(m)" are the indexes j≥dj\ge dj≥d. Pm\mathbb P^mPm is Measure.pi (fun _ : Fin m => P). VVV, the feasible set, solutions, support constraints and full support are the published definitions violation, feasibleSet, IsSolution, IsSupportConstraint and FullySupported. A support constraint is one whose removal admits a feasible point of strictly smaller cost, which under uniqueness is the paper's "its removal changes the solution". Full support is almost sure, not pointwise.

Hypotheses made explicit. Assumption 1 is entered as existence and uniqueness of the solution for every number of constraints and every sample, together with a family of solution maps θs k, each assumed to solve PkP_kPk​ and to be measurable. Under uniqueness, θs N is the goal's solution map. The paper's "measurability ... is assumed for granted" (p. 4) is replaced by joint measurability of {(x,δ):x∈Xδ}\{(x,\delta):x\in\mathcal X_\delta\}{(x,δ):x∈Xδ​} and measurability of the solution maps, the same two hypotheses as the goal. No set SIS_{\mathcal I}SI​ is assumed measurable. The nonempty-interior clause of Assumption 1 is unused in PART 1 and is not assumed, so the milestones compose with the goal.

Conventions. FFF is the push-forward measure violationLaw on R\mathbb RR, with F(α)F(\alpha)F(α) = violationLaw … (Set.Iic α). Integrals against FFF are lower Lebesgue integrals of nonnegative integrands, as extended nonnegative reals: over [0,1][0,1][0,1] for ∫01\int_0^1∫01​, and over (ε,1](\varepsilon,1](ε,1] for ∫ε1\int_\varepsilon^1∫ε1​ in the partition chain, since that integral comes from the event V>εV>\varepsilonV>ε. The integration-by-parts identity is a real interval integral. Ranges are 1≤d1\le d1≤d, d≤md\le md≤m, d≤Nd\le Nd≤N and 0≤ε≤10\le\varepsilon\le10≤ε≤1.

Ruled out. A pointwise "exactly ddd support constraints for every sample" would be unsatisfiable for many problems (repeated samples) and would trivialise the probabilistic content, so it is not used. Assuming measurability of the event {V(xN∗)>ε}\{V(x^*_N)>\varepsilon\}{V(xN∗​)>ε} or of SIS_{\mathcal I}SI​, or the identity Pm{SI}=Pm{S~I}\mathbb P^m\{S_{\mathcal I}\}=\mathbb P^m\{\widetilde S_{\mathcal I}\}Pm{SI​}=Pm{SI​}, as a hypothesis would assume part of the conclusion, so none of these is a hypothesis.

Infrastructure. A complete development needs: the support-constraint count (Proposition 2.2, a Helly-type argument), invariance of product measures under coordinate permutations, the change-of-variables formula for push-forward measures, the Hausdorff moment uniqueness theorem on [0,1][0,1][0,1], and the binomial–incomplete-beta identity. The last two are general results, and contributions of them are welcome independently.

Selected references

  • M. C. Campi, S. Garatti, The exact feasibility of randomized solutions of uncertain convex programs, SIAM J. Optim. 19(3) (2008) 1211–1230. https://doi.org/10.1137/07069821X
  • G. Calafiore, M. C. Campi, Uncertain convex programs: randomized solutions and confidence levels, Math. Program. 102 (2005) 25–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-003-0499-y
  • G. Calafiore, M. C. Campi, The scenario approach to robust control design, IEEE Trans. Automat. Control 51(5) (2006) 742–753. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2006.875041
  • M. C. Campi, S. Garatti, Introduction to the Scenario Approach, SIAM, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1137/1.9781611975444
  • A. N. Shiryaev, Probability, 2nd ed., Springer, 1996, Chapter II, §12. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2539-1
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CombinatoricsConvex OptimizationOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity XVII: Goemans–Williamson Rounding of the MAXCUT SDP Relaxation Has Expected Value at Least 0.878 Times the Maximum CutTextbook

Motivation

MAXCUT asks for a partition of the vertices of a weighted graph into two sets that maximizes the total weight of the edges between them. It is one of Karp's original NP-hard problems, so no polynomial-time exact algorithm is expected, and the natural question is how close a polynomial-time algorithm can come to the optimum. Sampling a uniformly random partition already achieves, in expectation, half of the optimal value. For two decades this factor 1/21/21/2 was essentially the best known.

Goemans and Williamson (J. ACM 42(6), 1995) replaced the combinatorial problem by a semidefinite relaxation, solvable in polynomial time by interior point methods, and rounded its solution with a random Gaussian hyperplane. They proved that the resulting cut has expected weight at least 0.8780.8780.878 times the maximum. The technique founded the use of semidefinite programming in approximation algorithms. Khot, Kindler, Mossel and O'Donnell (SIAM J. Comput. 37(1), 2007) showed that, assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, no polynomial-time algorithm achieves a better constant. Nesterov (Optim. Methods Softw. 9, 1998) extended the rounding analysis to maximizing any positive semidefinite quadratic form over the hypercube, with the constant 2/π2/\pi2/π.

This mission formalizes the presentation of these results in §6.6 of S. Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity (arXiv:1405.4980v2), pp. 343–347.

Setting

Let n≥0n\ge 0n≥0 and let A∈Rn×nA\in\mathbb R^{n\times n}A∈Rn×n be a symmetric matrix with non-negative entries; Ai,jA_{i,j}Ai,j​ is the weight between points iii and jjj. The graph Laplacian is L=D−AL=D-AL=D−A, where DDD is the diagonal matrix with entries ∑j=1nAi,j\sum_{j=1}^n A_{i,j}∑j=1n​Ai,j​. For x∈{−1,1}nx\in\{-1,1\}^nx∈{−1,1}n the vector xxx encodes a partition, and MAXCUT is (6.7)

max⁡x∈{−1,1}nx⊤Lx.\max_{x\in\{-1,1\}^n} x^\top L x .x∈{−1,1}nmax​x⊤Lx.

Write ⟨M,X⟩=Tr⁡(M⊤X)\langle M,X\rangle=\operatorname{Tr}(M^\top X)⟨M,X⟩=Tr(M⊤X) for the Frobenius inner product and S+n\mathbb S^n_+S+n​ for the symmetric positive semidefinite matrices. Since x⊤Lx=⟨L,xx⊤⟩x^\top Lx=\langle L,xx^\top\ranglex⊤Lx=⟨L,xx⊤⟩ and xx⊤∈S+nxx^\top\in\mathbb S^n_+xx⊤∈S+n​ has unit diagonal, MAXCUT is bounded above by the SDP relaxation

max⁡{⟨L,X⟩:X∈S+n, Xi,i=1, i∈[n]}.\max\bigl\{\langle L,X\rangle : X\in\mathbb S^n_+,\ X_{i,i}=1,\ i\in[n]\bigr\}.max{⟨L,X⟩:X∈S+n​, Xi,i​=1, i∈[n]}.

A solution Σ\SigmaΣ of the relaxation is any feasible matrix attaining this maximum. The rounding draws ξ∼N(0,Σ)\xi\sim\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)ξ∼N(0,Σ), a centered Gaussian vector with covariance Σ\SigmaΣ, and outputs ζ=sign⁡(ξ)∈{−1,1}n\zeta=\operatorname{sign}(\xi)\in\{-1,1\}^nζ=sign(ξ)∈{−1,1}n coordinatewise.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 6.11 (Goemans–Williamson)

For AAA symmetric with non-negative entries, L=D−AL=D-AL=D−A, Σ\SigmaΣ any solution of the relaxation, ξ∼N(0,Σ)\xi\sim\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)ξ∼N(0,Σ) and ζ=sign⁡(ξ)\zeta=\operatorname{sign}(\xi)ζ=sign(ξ):

E ζ⊤Lζ ≥ 0.878max⁡x∈{−1,1}nx⊤Lx.\mathbb E\,\zeta^\top L\zeta\ \ge\ 0.878\max_{x\in\{-1,1\}^n}x^\top Lx.Eζ⊤Lζ ≥ 0.878x∈{−1,1}nmax​x⊤Lx.

Milestones

  1. Bounded entries. If Σ∈S+n\Sigma\in\mathbb S^n_+Σ∈S+n​ and Σi,i=1\Sigma_{i,i}=1Σi,i​=1, then ∣Σi,j∣≤1|\Sigma_{i,j}|\le 1∣Σi,j​∣≤1 (remark in the proof of Lemma 6.12).
  2. Lemma 6.12 (Sheppard's formula). If ξ∼N(0,Σ)\xi\sim\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)ξ∼N(0,Σ) with Σi,i=1\Sigma_{i,i}=1Σi,i​=1 and ζ=sign⁡(ξ)\zeta=\operatorname{sign}(\xi)ζ=sign(ξ), then E ζiζj=2πarcsin⁡(Σi,j)\mathbb E\,\zeta_i\zeta_j=\frac{2}{\pi}\arcsin(\Sigma_{i,j})Eζi​ζj​=π2​arcsin(Σi,j​).
  3. Inequality (6.8). 1−2πarcsin⁡(t)≥0.878(1−t)1-\frac{2}{\pi}\arcsin(t)\ge 0.878(1-t)1−π2​arcsin(t)≥0.878(1−t) for all t∈[−1,1]t\in[-1,1]t∈[−1,1].
  4. Relaxation inequality. max⁡xx⊤Lx=max⁡x⟨L,xx⊤⟩≤⟨L,Σ⟩\max_{x}x^\top Lx=\max_x\langle L,xx^\top\rangle\le\langle L,\Sigma\ranglemaxx​x⊤Lx=maxx​⟨L,xx⊤⟩≤⟨L,Σ⟩ for every solution Σ\SigmaΣ.

The separately stated Laplacian identity on p. 346 is also included as a theorem item: if Xi,i=1X_{i,i}=1Xi,i​=1 for all iii, then ⟨L,X⟩=∑i,jAi,j(1−Xi,j)\langle L,X\rangle=\sum_{i,j}A_{i,j}(1-X_{i,j})⟨L,X⟩=∑i,j​Ai,j​(1−Xi,j​); for x∈{−1,1}nx\in\{-1,1\}^nx∈{−1,1}n, x⊤Lx=∑i,jAi,j(1−xixj)x^\top Lx=\sum_{i,j}A_{i,j}(1-x_ix_j)x⊤Lx=∑i,j​Ai,j​(1−xi​xj​).

Companion: Theorem 6.13 (Nesterov)

For B∈S+nB\in\mathbb S^n_+B∈S+n​, Σ\SigmaΣ a solution of max⁡{⟨B,X⟩:X∈S+n, Xi,i=1}\max\{\langle B,X\rangle : X\in\mathbb S^n_+,\ X_{i,i}=1\}max{⟨B,X⟩:X∈S+n​, Xi,i​=1}, ξ∼N(0,Σ)\xi\sim\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)ξ∼N(0,Σ) and ζ=sign⁡(ξ)\zeta=\operatorname{sign}(\xi)ζ=sign(ξ):

E ζ⊤Bζ ≥ 2πmax⁡x∈{−1,1}nx⊤Bx.\mathbb E\,\zeta^\top B\zeta\ \ge\ \frac{2}{\pi}\max_{x\in\{-1,1\}^n}x^\top Bx.Eζ⊤Bζ ≥ π2​x∈{−1,1}nmax​x⊤Bx.

Significance

The result. Theorem 6.11 is a polynomial-time randomized 0.8780.8780.878-approximation for MAXCUT: the relaxation is a semidefinite program, and sampling a Gaussian vector and taking signs is cheap. Repeated sampling turns the bound in expectation into a cut of value close to 0.8780.8780.878 times the optimum with high probability. The same scheme of relaxation followed by randomized rounding underlies approximation algorithms for MAX-2SAT, correlation clustering and quadratic programs over the hypercube, and Nesterov's Theorem 6.13 is the version for an arbitrary positive semidefinite objective.

Formalizing it. Both theorems were proved long ago. To our knowledge neither has a machine-checked proof in Mathlib. The platform has related statements from other books, in different forms: Grothendieck's identity for a standard Gaussian and two unit vectors, and the relaxation guarantee with a Grothendieck constant. This mission states the textbook's results for a Gaussian with a possibly singular covariance matrix, which is the form the rounding uses. A complete development needs Sheppard's formula for a degenerate bivariate Gaussian, an elementary but careful real-variable inequality, and a link between Mathlib's multivariate Gaussian and Gram factorizations of Σ\SigmaΣ. All three are reusable.

Difficulty

The algebra (the Laplacian identity and milestone 4) is routine. The probabilistic core is Lemma 6.12. The textbook argument reduces it to the probability that a uniformly random direction separates two unit vectors, which is "a quick picture" on paper. In Lean this requires showing that the pair (ξi,ξj)(\xi_i,\xi_j)(ξi​,ξj​) has the law of (⟨Vi,ε⟩,⟨Vj,ε⟩)(\langle V_i,\varepsilon\rangle,\langle V_j,\varepsilon\rangle)(⟨Vi​,ε⟩,⟨Vj​,ε⟩) for a standard Gaussian ε\varepsilonε, and then computing an angular measure in the plane, including the degenerate cases Σi,j=±1\Sigma_{i,j}=\pm1Σi,j​=±1, where the pair is supported on a line. A density-based argument fails there, because N(0,Σ)\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)N(0,Σ) has no density when Σ\SigmaΣ is singular, and singular solutions of the relaxation occur (for instance Σ=xx⊤\Sigma=xx^\topΣ=xx⊤). Inequality (6.8) is a statement about a transcendental function on a closed interval with a tight constant (0.8780.8780.878 against the true minimum ≈0.87856\approx0.87856≈0.87856), so crude estimates do not suffice near the minimizer t≈−0.689t\approx-0.689t≈−0.689.

Formalization scope

  • Matrices are Matrix (Fin n) (Fin n) ℝ, vectors Fin n → ℝ. S+n\mathbb S^n_+S+n​ is Matrix.PosSemidef, which includes symmetry, and ⟨M,X⟩\langle M,X\rangle⟨M,X⟩ is trace (Mᵀ * X).
  • N(0,Σ)\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)N(0,Σ) is Mathlib's ProbabilityTheory.multivariateGaussian 0 Σ on EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n), defined for every positive semidefinite Σ\SigmaΣ, singular ones included. Expectations are Bochner integrals against it, and each theorem also asserts integrability of its (bounded) integrand.
  • The sign is {−1,1}\{-1,1\}{−1,1}-valued: sign⁡(r)=1\operatorname{sign}(r)=1sign(r)=1 for r≥0r\ge0r≥0 and −1-1−1 for r<0r<0r<0. Mathlib's Real.sign would give sign⁡(0)=0\operatorname{sign}(0)=0sign(0)=0, which takes ζ\zetaζ out of {−1,1}n\{-1,1\}^n{−1,1}n; the two agree almost surely because Σi,i=1\Sigma_{i,i}=1Σi,i​=1.
  • The maximum over the hypercube is a finite maximum (Finset.sup') over the 2n2^n2n Boolean vectors read as ±1\pm1±1 vectors, so it is never a junk value. "The solution" of the relaxation means any maximizer, and maximizers exist since the feasible set is compact and contains the identity.
  • Standing hypotheses: in Theorem 6.11, AAA symmetric with non-negative entries (the book's MAXCUT setting); in Lemma 6.12, Σ\SigmaΣ positive semidefinite (implicit in "ξ∼N(0,Σ)\xi\sim\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)ξ∼N(0,Σ)"); in Theorem 6.13, BBB positive semidefinite. The identities of milestones 4 and 5 hold for every real matrix AAA and are stated without hypotheses on AAA.
  • Ruled out: tying ξ\xiξ's law to anything other than Σ\SigmaΣ, or dropping optimality of Σ\SigmaΣ, would make the goal false or vacuous; here the law is exactly N(0,Σ)\mathcal N(0,\Sigma)N(0,Σ) and Σ\SigmaΣ is a maximizer.
  • Welcome contributions: Sheppard's formula in Mathlib's multivariate Gaussian language, a proof of (6.8), and the Schur product theorem (A,B⪰0⇒A∘B⪰0A,B\succeq0\Rightarrow A\circ B\succeq0A,B⪰0⇒A∘B⪰0) used in Theorem 6.13.

Selected references

  • S. Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning 8(3–4):231–358, 2015. arXiv:1405.4980v2
  • M. X. Goemans, D. P. Williamson, Improved approximation algorithms for maximum cut and satisfiability problems using semidefinite programming, J. ACM 42(6):1115–1145, 1995. doi:10.1145/227683.227684
  • Yu. Nesterov, Semidefinite relaxation and nonconvex quadratic optimization, Optim. Methods Softw. 9(1–3):141–160, 1998. doi:10.1080/10556789808805690
  • S. Khot, G. Kindler, E. Mossel, R. O'Donnell, Optimal inapproximability results for MAX-CUT and other 2-variable CSPs?, SIAM J. Comput. 37(1):319–357, 2007. doi:10.1137/S0097539705447372
  • W. F. Sheppard, On the application of the theory of error to cases of normal distribution and normal correlation, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 192:101–167, 1899. doi:10.1098/rsta.1899.0003
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Algorithmic Game TheoryOperations ResearchProbability·Captain: mikedeng1

Revenue Management with Forward-Looking Buyers: Under Weakly Decreasing Demand the Deterministic Optimal Cutoffs Fall over Time and Satisfy One-Period Look-AheadResearch Paper

Motivation

Retailers of seasonal goods (fashion, electronics, airline seats) sell a fixed stock over a finite season to customers who arrive over time, and those customers know that prices may fall. A customer who expects a markdown waits, and a seller who ignores this loses revenue. The classical revenue-management literature (Gallego and van Ryzin 1994; Talluri and van Ryzin 2004) models myopic customers who buy on arrival or leave; the literature on forward-looking (strategic) buyers, for instance Aviv and Pazgal (2008), studies particular price paths.

Board and Skrzypacz ask the mechanism-design question: among all selling schemes, which maximizes the seller's expected discounted revenue when buyers arrive over time, have private values and time their purchases strategically? Their answer, published in the Journal of Political Economy in 2016, is that the optimal mechanism has a simple structure: in every period the seller sells to the highest remaining buyer if and only if his value exceeds a cutoff that depends only on the period and the number of units left. When demand is weakly decreasing over time, the cutoffs are characterized by one-period indifference conditions, which in the continuous-time limit can be implemented by posted prices. The source used here is the authors' accepted manuscript of February 6, 2015; all page numbers refer to that manuscript.

Setting

A seller has units of a good and sells them over periods t∈{1,…,T}t\in\{1,\dots,T\}t∈{1,…,T}; unsold units are worth zero after period TTT. Payoffs are discounted by δ∈(0,1)\delta\in(0,1)δ∈(0,1). At the start of period ttt a random number NtN_tNt​ of buyers arrives, independently across periods, with a law that may depend on ttt. Each buyer wants one unit; his value is drawn independently from a distribution with continuous density fff, distribution function FFF and support [v‾,vˉ][\underline v,\bar v][v​,vˉ]. The marginal revenue of a buyer with value vvv is

m(v)=v−1−F(v)f(v),m(v)=v-\frac{1-F(v)}{f(v)},m(v)=v−f(v)1−F(v)​,

assumed strictly increasing and continuously differentiable, with m(v‾)<0m(\underline v)<0m(v​)<0.

By the standard mechanism-design reduction (§2.1, eq. (2.5)), the seller's problem is to choose when to serve each buyer so as to maximize the expected discounted sum of the served buyers' marginal revenues. The state in period ttt, after the period-ttt entrants have arrived, is the number kkk of units left and the values y1≥y2≥⋯y^1\ge y^2\ge\cdotsy1≥y2≥⋯ of the buyers present. The value Πtk\Pi^k_tΠtk​ and the pre-entry value Π~tk\tilde\Pi^k_{t}Π~tk​ satisfy the Bellman equation (4.3):

Πtk(y)=max⁡0≤j≤k[∑i=1jm(yi)+δ Π~t+1k−j(y−j)],Π~t+1k(y)=Et+1[Πt+1k(y∪vt+1)],\Pi^k_t(\mathbf y)=\max_{0\le j\le k}\Big[\sum_{i=1}^j m(y^i)+\delta\,\tilde\Pi^{k-j}_{t+1}(\mathbf y^{-j})\Big],\qquad \tilde\Pi^k_{t+1}(\mathbf y)=E_{t+1}\big[\Pi^k_{t+1}(\mathbf y\cup\mathbf v_{t+1})\big],Πtk​(y)=0≤j≤kmax​[i=1∑j​m(yi)+δΠ~t+1k−j​(y−j)],Π~t+1k​(y)=Et+1​[Πt+1k​(y∪vt+1​)],

where y−j\mathbf y^{-j}y−j is the set of buyers left after the jjj highest are served and vt+1\mathbf v_{t+1}vt+1​ the next period's entrants. Selling one unit to y1y^1y1 today rather than none gives the difference function

ΔΠtk(y1,y−1)=m(y1)+δΠ~t+1k−1(y−1)−δΠ~t+1k(y1,y−1),\Delta\Pi^k_t(y^1,\mathbf y^{-1})=m(y^1)+\delta\tilde\Pi^{k-1}_{t+1}(\mathbf y^{-1})-\delta\tilde\Pi^k_{t+1}(y^1,\mathbf y^{-1}),ΔΠtk​(y1,y−1)=m(y1)+δΠ~t+1k−1​(y−1)−δΠ~t+1k​(y1,y−1),

and the cutoff xtkx^k_txtk​ is the smallest y∈[v‾,vˉ]y\in[\underline v,\bar v]y∈[v​,vˉ] with ΔΠtk(y,∅)≥0\Delta\Pi^k_t(y,\varnothing)\ge 0ΔΠtk​(y,∅)≥0. Comparing selling to y1y^1y1 today with waiting and selling at least one unit tomorrow (to the best of y1y^1y1 and the entrants) gives DΠtk(y1)D\Pi^k_t(y^1)DΠtk​(y1) (p. 17). Demand is weakly decreasing in the usual stochastic order if P(Nt+1>x)≤P(Nt>x)P(N_{t+1}>x)\le P(N_t>x)P(Nt+1​>x)≤P(Nt​>x) for all xxx and ttt.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 2 (p. 17)

If NtN_tNt​ is weakly decreasing in the usual stochastic order then, for every k≥1k\ge 1k≥1,

xt+1k≤xtk(1≤t≤T−1),DΠtk(xtk)=0,x^k_{t+1}\le x^k_t\quad(1\le t\le T-1),\qquad D\Pi^k_t(x^k_t)=0,xt+1k​≤xtk​(1≤t≤T−1),DΠtk​(xtk​)=0,

and xtkx^k_txtk​ is the unique root of DΠtkD\Pi^k_tDΠtk​ in [v‾,vˉ][\underline v,\bar v][v​,vˉ] for t≤T−1t\le T-1t≤T−1: the seller is indifferent between selling to the cutoff type today and waiting one period to sell that unit tomorrow (the one-period-look-ahead property).

Central milestone: Theorem 1 (p. 15)

For every ttt and k≥1k\ge 1k≥1, the optimal rule sells to the highest buyer iff y1≥xtky^1\ge x^k_ty1≥xtk​, whatever the values of the lower buyers; xtk+1≤xtkx^{k+1}_t\le x^k_txtk+1​≤xtk​; and xtkx^k_txtk​ is the unique root of ΔΠtk\Delta\Pi^k_tΔΠtk​.

Milestones

In attack order:

  1. Lemma 1: allocations are monotone in values.
  2. Lemma 2: with cutoffs decreasing in the unit index, units can be treated one at a time.
  3. Equation (A.1): increasing differences of Π\PiΠ.
  4. Lemma 3: ΔΠ\Delta\PiΔΠ is independent of lower buyers, continuous and strictly increasing in y1y^1y1, and increasing in kkk.
  5. Footnote 12: the boundary values of ΔΠ\Delta\PiΔΠ.
  6. Theorem 1.
  7. Strict monotonicity of DΠD\PiDΠ in y1y^1y1 (p. 18).
  8. Lemma 4: DΠt+1k≥DΠtkD\Pi^k_{t+1}\ge D\Pi^k_tDΠt+1k​≥DΠtk​.

After the goal, (4.7) gives the period-(T−1)(T-1)(T−1) cutoff equation m(xT−1k)=δET[max⁡{m(xT−1k),m(vTk)}]m(x^k_{T-1})=\delta E_T[\max\{m(x^k_{T-1}),m(v^k_T)\}]m(xT−1k​)=δET​[max{m(xT−1k​),m(vTk​)}].

Significance

Theorem 1 says that the optimal allocation does not depend on how many buyers are present or what their values are, only on time and inventory. This is what makes the optimal mechanism implementable without eliciting values from buyers as they arrive. Theorem 2 turns the global dynamic program into local indifference conditions. In the continuous-time limit (§5 of the paper) these become differential equations, and the optimum is implemented by posted prices with an auction at the end of the season. Under weakly decreasing demand, therefore, the classical revenue-management practice of posting prices loses nothing against the best possible mechanism.

The paper's results are proved, in prose, with envelope-theorem and coupling arguments. They have not been machine-checked. A formal development would produce a verified backward-induction model of multi-unit dynamic allocation with random arrivals, with the structural results (monotonicity, deterministic cutoffs, monotone comparative statics in inventory and time) that recur across dynamic pricing and optimal stopping. Two printed gaps are recorded below: the positivity of m(vˉ)m(\bar v)m(vˉ), and the restriction of footnote 12 to t≤T−1t\le T-1t≤T−1.

Difficulty

The obvious argument fails at "deterministic". A priori the cutoff for the highest buyer depends on the values of the lower buyers, because selling a unit today changes which of them will be served later and when. Lemma 3(a) holds only under the induction hypothesis that all future cutoffs are already deterministic and decreasing in inventory, so Lemma 3, Theorem 1 and (A.1) form a single backward induction over periods and units, and none of them can be proved in isolation. The value function is an expectation, over a random number of i.i.d. entrants, of a maximum over sorted values, so continuity and strict monotonicity in y1y^1y1 (Lemma 3(b), and the same for DΠD\PiDΠ) are not available from general facts. The tempting argument for Theorem 2, that cutoffs fall over time simply because fewer buyers arrive later, is incomplete: Lemma 4 has to compare two periods with different arrival laws and different future cutoffs at once.

Formalization scope

Periods are natural numbers 1,…,T1,\dots,T1,…,T with T≥1T\ge1T≥1, and units are natural numbers. Values, marginal revenues and profits are real numbers. The buyers present form a finite multiset of reals, and an absent buyer is absent, never a value 000. The value law is the measure with density fff; the density is positive and continuous on [v‾,vˉ][\underline v,\bar v][v​,vˉ] and zero outside, and mmm is defined from fff and FFF. Expectations over a cohort are lower Lebesgue integrals against ∑nP(Nt=n) μ⊗n\sum_n P(N_t=n)\,\mu^{\otimes n}∑n​P(Nt​=n)μ⊗n of nonnegative bounded quantities, so no non-measurable or non-integrable integrand can silently become 000. The value function is defined by the Bellman equation (4.3), with ΠT+1≡0\Pi_{T+1}\equiv0ΠT+1​≡0. The sequence problem (4.1) over purchase times is not formalized; the paper says either may be used (footnote 16).

Standing assumptions and handled gaps:

  • δ∈(0,1)\delta\in(0,1)δ∈(0,1);
  • NtN_tNt​ independent across periods (only the marginal laws enter);
  • mmm strictly increasing and C1C^1C1 on [v‾,vˉ][\underline v,\bar v][v​,vˉ] with m(v‾)<0m(\underline v)<0m(v​)<0;
  • added: m(vˉ)>0m(\bar v)>0m(vˉ)>0, which footnote 12 uses without stating; without it no unit is ever sold and no cutoff exists;
  • added: f>0f>0f>0 on the closed support, needed for mmm to be defined there;
  • footnote 12's equality ΔΠtk(vˉ)=(1−δ)m(vˉ)\Delta\Pi^k_t(\bar v)=(1-\delta)m(\bar v)ΔΠtk​(vˉ)=(1−δ)m(vˉ) is stated for t≤T−1t\le T-1t≤T−1 only, since ΔΠTk=m\Delta\Pi^k_T=mΔΠTk​=m;
  • DΠtkD\Pi^k_tDΠtk​ is used only for t≤T−1t\le T-1t≤T−1, and Lemma 4 needs t+1≤T−1t+1\le T-1t+1≤T−1;
  • "decreasing" and "increasing" are weak except in Lemma 3(b) and for DΠD\PiDΠ;
  • at y1=xtky^1=x^k_ty1=xtk​ both selling and waiting are optimal.

The cutoff is defined from ΔΠ\Delta\PiΔΠ, never as the threshold of an optimal policy, and "optimal" always means maximal in (4.3) over every number of units sold. A formalization that postulates a threshold policy, replaces the random cohort by its mean, or sets absent buyers to value 000 would trivialize or change the statements and is ruled out. The mechanism-design reduction (IC/IR to (2.5)) and the continuous-time results of §5 are out of scope.

The usual stochastic order is the published platform definition StochasticOrders.Usual.UsualOrder. A complete development needs finite-horizon dynamic programming over multisets, expectations of functions of sorted i.i.d. samples, envelope arguments, and monotone coupling for the usual stochastic order on N\mathbb NN; these parts are reusable beyond this mission. Proofs of any milestone are welcome, as is a proof that (4.3) agrees with the sequence problem (4.1).

Selected references

  • S. Board and A. Skrzypacz, Revenue Management with Forward-Looking Buyers, Journal of Political Economy 124(4), 2016. https://doi.org/10.1086/686713
  • R. B. Myerson, Optimal Auction Design, Mathematics of Operations Research 6(1), 1981. https://doi.org/10.1287/moor.6.1.58
  • G. Gallego and G. van Ryzin, Optimal Dynamic Pricing of Inventories with Stochastic Demand over Finite Horizons, Management Science 40(8), 1994. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.40.8.999
  • Y. Aviv and A. Pazgal, Optimal Pricing of Seasonal Products in the Presence of Forward-Looking Consumers, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 10(3), 2008. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.1070.0183
  • K. T. Talluri and G. J. van Ryzin, The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management, Springer, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1007/b139000
  • M. Shaked and J. G. Shanthikumar, Stochastic Orders, Springer, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34675-5
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Convex OptimizationMachine LearningOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity XV: SVRG with η = 1/(10β) and k = 20κ Contracts the Expected Optimality Gap by 0.9 per EpochTextbook

Motivation

Many optimization problems in machine learning minimize an average of losses, one loss for each observation. A full gradient step examines every observation, while a stochastic gradient step examines one. The latter is cheaper per step, but its sampled gradient can remain noisy even near the optimum. Section 6.3 of Bubeck's monograph studies stochastic variance reduced gradient descent (SVRG), which periodically computes a full gradient at an anchor point and uses it to correct subsequent sampled gradients. The question for this mission is whether that correction gives a geometric reduction of the expected objective gap at the constants printed in Theorem 6.5.

Bubeck places this method alongside full gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent for finite sums. The section records that earlier stochastic average gradient and dual coordinate ascent methods attain a gradient-computation cost of order (m+κ)log⁡(1/ε)(m+\kappa)\log(1/\varepsilon)(m+κ)log(1/ε) for the same regime, where mmm is the number of components and κ\kappaκ is a condition number. The target here is the precise SVRG convergence statement in the book, rather than a comparison of implementation costs. The source's discussion on pp. 334–336 gives the context and the algorithm.

Setting

Let f1,…,fm:Rn→Rf_1,\ldots,f_m:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb Rf1​,…,fm​:Rn→R be differentiable convex functions, with m≥1m\ge1m≥1, and define the finite-sum objective and its gradient by

f(x)=1m∑i=1mfi(x),G(x)=1m∑i=1m∇fi(x).f(x)=\frac1m\sum_{i=1}^m f_i(x),\qquad G(x)=\frac1m\sum_{i=1}^m \nabla f_i(x).f(x)=m1​i=1∑m​fi​(x),G(x)=m1​i=1∑m​∇fi​(x).

Each component is β\betaβ-smooth when its gradient is β\betaβ-Lipschitz in the Euclidean norm: ∥∇fi(x)−∇fi(z)∥2≤β∥x−z∥2\|\nabla f_i(x)-\nabla f_i(z)\|_2\le\beta\|x-z\|_2∥∇fi​(x)−∇fi​(z)∥2​≤β∥x−z∥2​ for all x,zx,zx,z. The average fff is α\alphaα-strongly convex, meaning that for all x,zx,zx,z it lies at least α2∥z−x∥22\frac\alpha2\|z-x\|_2^22α​∥z−x∥22​ above its first-order affine approximation at xxx. The constants α\alphaα and β\betaβ are positive, x∗x^*x∗ minimizes fff over Rn\mathbb R^nRn, and κ=β/α\kappa=\beta/\alphaκ=β/α.

An epoch begins at an anchor yyy. Its first inner iterate is x1=yx_1=yx1​=y. For t=1,…,kt=1,\ldots,kt=1,…,k, draw iti_tit​ uniformly from {1,…,m}\{1,\ldots,m\}{1,…,m}, independently across steps and epochs, and update

xt+1=xt−η(∇fit(xt)−∇fit(y)+G(y)).x_{t+1}=x_t-\eta\bigl(\nabla f_{i_t}(x_t)-\nabla f_{i_t}(y)+G(y)\bigr).xt+1​=xt​−η(∇fit​​(xt​)−∇fit​​(y)+G(y)).

The next anchor is the average y+=k−1∑t=1kxty^+=k^{-1}\sum_{t=1}^k x_ty+=k−1∑t=1k​xt​. In particular, this average uses x1x_1x1​ through xkx_kxk​, while the last updated point xk+1x_{k+1}xk+1​ is excluded. Starting from an arbitrary y(1)y^{(1)}y(1) and repeating the epoch produces y(s+1)y^{(s+1)}y(s+1). The expectation of f(y(s+1))f(y^{(s+1)})f(y(s+1)) is over all sksksk sampled indices in the first sss epochs.

Formalization targets

Goal: geometric contraction across epochs

Theorem 6.5 sets η=1/(10β)\eta=1/(10\beta)η=1/(10β) and k=20κk=20\kappak=20κ and asserts, for every s≥1s\ge1s≥1,

Ef(y(s+1))−f(x∗)≤0.9s(f(y(1))−f(x∗)).\mathbb E f(y^{(s+1)})-f(x^*) \le 0.9^s\bigl(f(y^{(1)})-f(x^*)\bigr).Ef(y(s+1))−f(x∗)≤0.9s(f(y(1))−f(x∗)).

The epoch length is a count, so the statement takes k∈Nk\in\mathbb Nk∈N and explicitly requires k=20β/αk=20\beta/\alphak=20β/α. The goal uses exactly the book's step size, epoch length, and contraction factor.

Milestones: second moments and a single epoch

Lemma 6.4 bounds Ei∥∇fi(x)−∇fi(x∗)∥22\mathbb E_i\|\nabla f_i(x)-\nabla f_i(x^*)\|_2^2Ei​∥∇fi​(x)−∇fi​(x∗)∥22​ by 2β(f(x)−f(x∗))2\beta(f(x)-f(x^*))2β(f(x)−f(x∗)). Equation (6.3) bounds the second moment of the corrected sampled direction by the objective gaps at the current point and the anchor. Equation (6.2), the unbiased-direction display, and the one-step display express how that direction changes squared distance to x∗x^*x∗. The later display on p. 338 bounds one epoch for any positive step size with 2βη<12\beta\eta<12βη<1. Finally, equation (6.1) substitutes the stated constants to obtain the factor 0.90.90.9 for one epoch. These seven source claims form the milestone list in reading order.

Significance

The theorem gives an explicit accuracy guarantee after a specified number of epochs: an initial gap DDD falls below 0.9sD0.9^sD0.9sD in expectation. Because each epoch uses a full gradient at its anchor as well as sampled component gradients, the result makes clear which quantity contracts and which operations are counted. It is a concrete linear-rate statement for a method whose individual stochastic gradients need not approach zero at the optimum. Bubeck, §6.3 discusses this issue when introducing the correction term.

The mathematical result is already proved in the monograph. The remaining task is to produce machine-checked proofs of its precise finite-sum model, the single-index estimates, the epoch inequality, and the full repeated-epoch guarantee. The mission drafts those statements and definitions; no proof is claimed for the open theorem items. The finite uniform-average representation and the separation between a conditional one-step average and the full multi-epoch average can be reused in other finite-sum stochastic algorithms.

Difficulty

The sampled component gradient ∇fit(xt)\nabla f_{i_t}(x_t)∇fit​​(xt​) need not be small when xtx_txt​ is near x∗x^*x∗, so a bound using only its norm does not yield the desired fixed-step contraction. The correction −∇fit(y)+G(y)-\nabla f_{i_t}(y)+G(y)−∇fit​​(y)+G(y) has mean zero relative to the full gradient at the current iterate, but its second moment still depends on both xtx_txt​ and yyy. The proof must control those two gaps while respecting the fact that xtx_txt​ depends on earlier samples. A single-index estimate with xtx_txt​ held fixed and an expectation over complete sample histories are different statements; confusing them would make the goal weaker or false.

Formalization scope

The carrier is EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n) with its usual inner product and norm. The Fin m components and every sample array are finite. A real-valued uniform average is an ordinary finite sum divided by the number of arrays, and m≥1m\ge1m≥1 and k≥1k\ge1k≥1 prevent an empty average. Independent uniform sampling is represented by averaging over every function from step positions to component indices. The multi-epoch sample space has one such block for every epoch. There are no integrals or measurability side conditions.

The component assumptions include differentiability with an explicit gradient map, convexity on all of Rn\mathbb R^nRn, and the book's gradient-Lipschitz version of smoothness. Strong convexity is imposed on the average objective alone, using the published OnlineConvexOpt.ConvexBasics.StronglyConvexOn definition on the whole space. The book's standing notation assumes a minimizing x∗x^*x∗ exists; this is explicit. Positivity of α\alphaα and β\betaβ, and integrality of 20β/α20\beta/\alpha20β/α, make the displayed divisions and epoch length meaningful. The general epoch bound also requires 0<η0<\eta0<η and 2βη<12\beta\eta<12βη<1. Dimension zero is allowed: the theorem remains a statement about the unique point of R0\mathbb R^0R0 and its zero objective gap.

The direction always contains the sampled difference ∇fit(xt)−∇fit(y)\nabla f_{i_t}(x_t)-\nabla f_{i_t}(y)∇fit​​(xt​)−∇fit​​(y) and the full anchor gradient G(y)G(y)G(y). Replacing that direction with G(xt)G(x_t)G(xt​) would define gradient descent and would not satisfy this mission's algorithm. Contributions are welcome for the finite averaging identities, the component-gradient estimate, the conditional one-step calculation, the epoch inequality, and the induction across epochs.

Selected references

  • Sébastien Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning 8(3–4), 2015, pp. 231–358. arXiv:1405.4980v2
  • Rie Johnson and Tong Zhang, Accelerating Stochastic Gradient Descent using Predictive Variance Reduction, Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 26 (NIPS), 2013 (the origin of SVRG, cited by Bubeck on p. 335). https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper/2013/hash/ac1dd209cbcc5e5d1c6e28598e8cbbe8-Abstract.html
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Convex OptimizationMachine LearningOptimization+1·Captain: mikedeng1

Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity XIV: Stochastic Mirror Descent on a β-Smooth Function with Noise σ Has Rate Rσ√(2/t) + βR²/tTextbook

Motivation

Many optimization problems in statistics and machine learning ask to minimize an expected loss f(x)=Eξ ℓ(x,ξ)f(x)=\mathbb E_\xi\,\ell(x,\xi)f(x)=Eξ​ℓ(x,ξ), or an average f(x)=1m∑i=1mfi(x)f(x)=\frac1m\sum_{i=1}^m f_i(x)f(x)=m1​∑i=1m​fi​(x) over a large data set. Exact gradients of such an fff are unavailable or too expensive, but unbiased random estimates are cheap: the gradient of the loss at one sample, or of one randomly chosen summand. The observation that first-order methods still make progress when the gradients are only correct on average goes back to Robbins and Monro (1951) and underlies stochastic gradient descent.

Chapter 6 of S. Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity (2015), studies this setting through stochastic mirror descent (S-MD). Its Section 6.1 shows that in the non-smooth case a noisy oracle costs nothing in rate. Section 6.2 asks what smoothness buys: for a general stochastic oracle it cannot buy acceleration, but Theorem 6.3, whose proof the book takes from Dekel, Gilad-Bachrach, Shamir and Xiao (2012), shows that the rate splits into a noise term of order 1/t1/\sqrt t1/t​ and a smoothness term of order 1/t1/t1/t. The book uses it to justify mini-batch SGD. This mission is the fourteenth of a series that formalizes the section capstones of the book.

Setting

Let EEE be a finite-dimensional real vector space with an arbitrary norm ∥⋅∥\|\cdot\|∥⋅∥. Gradients are linear forms ggg on EEE, the value of ggg at vvv is written g⊤vg^\top vg⊤v, and the dual norm is ∥g∥∗=sup⁡∥v∥≤1g⊤v\|g\|_*=\sup_{\|v\|\le1}g^\top v∥g∥∗​=sup∥v∥≤1​g⊤v. Let X⊆E\mathcal X\subseteq EX⊆E be compact and convex.

A mirror map is a function Φ\PhiΦ on an open convex set D\mathcal DD with X⊆D‾\mathcal X\subseteq\overline{\mathcal D}X⊆D and X∩D≠∅\mathcal X\cap\mathcal D\ne\emptysetX∩D=∅. It is strictly convex and differentiable on D\mathcal DD, its gradient ∇Φ\nabla\Phi∇Φ takes every value, and ∥∇Φ(x)∥∗→∞\|\nabla\Phi(x)\|_*\to\infty∥∇Φ(x)∥∗​→∞ as xxx approaches the boundary of D\mathcal DD. Its Bregman divergence is DΦ(x,y)=Φ(x)−Φ(y)−∇Φ(y)⊤(x−y)D_\Phi(x,y)=\Phi(x)-\Phi(y)-\nabla\Phi(y)^\top(x-y)DΦ​(x,y)=Φ(x)−Φ(y)−∇Φ(y)⊤(x−y). The map is 1-strongly convex on X∩D\mathcal X\cap\mathcal DX∩D if DΦ(y,x)≥12∥x−y∥2D_\Phi(y,x)\ge\frac12\|x-y\|^2DΦ​(y,x)≥21​∥x−y∥2 there. A function fff is β\betaβ-smooth on X\mathcal XX if ∥∇f(x)−∇f(y)∥∗≤β∥x−y∥\|\nabla f(x)-\nabla f(y)\|_*\le\beta\|x-y\|∥∇f(x)−∇f(y)∥∗​≤β∥x−y∥ for x,y∈Xx,y\in\mathcal Xx,y∈X.

A stochastic oracle returns, at a query point xxx, a random linear form g~(x)\tilde g(x)g~​(x). When the query point is itself random, the book requires the conditional expectation given the query point, E(g~(x)∣x)\mathbb E(\tilde g(x)\mid x)E(g~​(x)∣x), to be a subgradient of fff at xxx. In the smooth case it requires E(g~(x)∣x)=∇f(x)\mathbb E(\tilde g(x)\mid x)=\nabla f(x)E(g~​(x)∣x)=∇f(x) together with the variance bound E(∥g~(x)−∇f(x)∥∗2∣x)≤σ2\mathbb E(\|\tilde g(x)-\nabla f(x)\|_*^2\mid x)\le\sigma^2E(∥g~​(x)−∇f(x)∥∗2​∣x)≤σ2.

S-MD with step γ\gammaγ starts at x1∈argmin⁡X∩DΦx_1\in\operatorname{argmin}_{\mathcal X\cap\mathcal D}\Phix1​∈argminX∩D​Φ and, writing g~s=g~(xs)\tilde g_s=\tilde g(x_s)g~​s​=g~​(xs​), iterates

xs+1∈argmin⁡x∈X∩D γ g~s⊤x+DΦ(x,xs).x_{s+1}\in\operatorname*{argmin}_{x\in\mathcal X\cap\mathcal D}\ \gamma\,\tilde g_s^\top x+D_\Phi(x,x_s).xs+1​∈x∈X∩Dargmin​ γg~​s⊤​x+DΦ​(x,xs​).

Let R2≥sup⁡x∈X∩DΦ(x)−Φ(x1)R^2\ge\sup_{x\in\mathcal X\cap\mathcal D}\Phi(x)-\Phi(x_1)R2≥supx∈X∩D​Φ(x)−Φ(x1​), and let x∗x^*x∗ minimize fff on X\mathcal XX.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 6.3

Let fff be convex and β\betaβ-smooth, and let the oracle have variance at most σ2\sigma^2σ2. Then for every t≥1t\ge1t≥1, S-MD with step 1/(β+1/η)1/(\beta+1/\eta)1/(β+1/η) and η=Rσ2/t\eta=\frac R\sigma\sqrt{2/t}η=σR​2/t​ satisfies

E f(1t∑s=1txs+1)−f(x∗)≤Rσ2t+βR2t.\mathbb E\,f\Big(\frac1t\sum_{s=1}^t x_{s+1}\Big)-f(x^*)\le R\sigma\sqrt{\frac2t}+\frac{\beta R^2}{t}.Ef(t1​s=1∑t​xs+1​)−f(x∗)≤Rσt2​​+tβR2​.

Milestones (the proof's four displays)

For points xs,xs+1∈X∩Dx_s,x_{s+1}\in\mathcal X\cap\mathcal Dxs​,xs+1​∈X∩D and η>0\eta>0η>0, the smoothness step is

f(xs+1)−f(xs)≤g~s⊤(xs+1−xs)+η2∥∇f(xs)−g~s∥∗2+(β+1/η)DΦ(xs+1,xs).f(x_{s+1})-f(x_s)\le\tilde g_s^\top(x_{s+1}-x_s)+\tfrac\eta2\|\nabla f(x_s)-\tilde g_s\|_*^2+(\beta+1/\eta)D_\Phi(x_{s+1},x_s).f(xs+1​)−f(xs​)≤g~​s⊤​(xs+1​−xs​)+2η​∥∇f(xs​)−g~​s​∥∗2​+(β+1/η)DΦ​(xs+1​,xs​).

If xs+1x_{s+1}xs+1​ is the S-MD step, the mirror step is

1β+1/ηg~s⊤(xs+1−x∗)≤DΦ(x∗,xs)−DΦ(x∗,xs+1)−DΦ(xs+1,xs).\tfrac{1}{\beta+1/\eta}\tilde g_s^\top(x_{s+1}-x^*)\le D_\Phi(x^*,x_s)-D_\Phi(x^*,x_{s+1})-D_\Phi(x_{s+1},x_s).β+1/η1​g~​s⊤​(xs+1​−x∗)≤DΦ​(x∗,xs​)−DΦ​(x∗,xs+1​)−DΦ​(xs+1​,xs​).

Combining the two gives a pathwise bound on f(xs+1)f(x_{s+1})f(xs+1​) with the cross term (g~s−∇f(xs))⊤(x∗−xs)(\tilde g_s-\nabla f(x_s))^\top(x^*-x_s)(g~​s​−∇f(xs​))⊤(x∗−xs​). Taking expectations gives the expected one-step bound

Ef(xs+1)−f(x∗)≤(β+1/η) E(DΦ(x∗,xs)−DΦ(x∗,xs+1))+ησ22.\mathbb Ef(x_{s+1})-f(x^*)\le(\beta+1/\eta)\,\mathbb E\big(D_\Phi(x^*,x_s)-D_\Phi(x^*,x_{s+1})\big)+\frac{\eta\sigma^2}{2}.Ef(xs+1​)−f(x∗)≤(β+1/η)E(DΦ​(x∗,xs​)−DΦ​(x∗,xs+1​))+2ησ2​.

Companion: Theorem 6.1 and (4.10)

For a convex fff with E(∥g~(x)∥∗2∣x)≤B2\mathbb E(\|\tilde g(x)\|_*^2\mid x)\le B^2E(∥g~​(x)∥∗2​∣x)≤B2, S-MD with η=RB2/t\eta=\frac RB\sqrt{2/t}η=BR​2/t​ satisfies

E f(1t∑s=1txs)−min⁡Xf≤RB2/t.\mathbb E\,f\Big(\frac1t\sum_{s=1}^tx_s\Big)-\min_{\mathcal X}f\le RB\sqrt{2/t}.Ef(t1​s=1∑t​xs​)−Xmin​f≤RB2/t​.

This rests on the deterministic regret bound (4.10) of mirror descent along arbitrary vectors gsg_sgs​:

∑s≤tgs⊤(xs−x)≤R2η+η2ρ∑s≤t∥gs∥∗2.\sum_{s\le t}g_s^\top(x_s-x)\le\frac{R^2}{\eta}+\frac{\eta}{2\rho}\sum_{s\le t}\|g_s\|_*^2.s≤t∑​gs⊤​(xs​−x)≤ηR2​+2ρη​s≤t∑​∥gs​∥∗2​.

Significance

Theorem 6.3 says exactly how much smoothness helps under noise. As σ→0\sigma\to0σ→0 it recovers the βR2/t\beta R^2/tβR2/t rate of deterministic smooth optimization. For large ttt the noise term Rσ2/tR\sigma\sqrt{2/t}Rσ2/t​ dominates; the book notes, citing Tsybakov (2003), that smoothness brings no acceleration for a general stochastic oracle. Averaging mmm independent oracle answers divides the variance by mmm, so the theorem quantifies the benefit of mini-batches: the noise term shrinks by m\sqrt mm​ while the smoothness term is unchanged. Theorem 6.1 is the matching non-smooth statement and the template for stochastic subgradient methods in any norm.

These are classical, proved results. None of them is known to be formalized in Lean, and the platform has no stochastic mirror descent statement. Its stochastic gradient items cover the Euclidean strongly convex case and the non-convex gradient-norm case. This mission adds a reusable stochastic-oracle layer in an arbitrary norm, with conditional expectations given random query points, on top of the mirror-map layer of Chapter 4.

Difficulty

The deterministic steps are short manipulations of Bregman divergences. The difficulty is in the passage to expectations. The query point xsx_sxs​ is random, so unbiasedness enters only through the conditional expectation given xsx_sxs​. Making the cross term vanish requires pulling the σ(xs)\sigma(x_s)σ(xs​)-measurable vector x∗−xsx^*-x_sx∗−xs​ out of a conditional expectation of a dual-valued random variable. Every expectation also has to exist. When ∇Φ\nabla\Phi∇Φ blows up at the boundary of D\mathcal DD, the Bregman terms DΦ(x∗,xs)D_\Phi(x^*,x_s)DΦ​(x∗,xs​) are not bounded a priori, and their integrability has to be derived from the recursion. A further obstacle is that the minimizer x∗x^*x∗ may lie on the boundary of D\mathcal DD, where Φ\PhiΦ is not part of the book's data. Treating E\mathbb EE informally, or assuming x∗∈Dx^*\in\mathcal Dx∗∈D, skips exactly these points.

Formalization scope

  • Spaces and gradients. EEE is a finite-dimensional real normed space. Gradients are explicit maps Φ' f' : E → (E →L[ℝ] ℝ), g⊤vg^\top vg⊤v is g v, and ∥⋅∥∗\|\cdot\|_*∥⋅∥∗​ is the operator norm. β\betaβ-smoothness is stated with derivatives relative to X\mathcal XX. Φ\PhiΦ is a total function, constrained only by the mirror-map axioms on D\mathcal DD.
  • Runs and oracle. S-MD is a run predicate. For every outcome, x1x_1x1​ minimizes Φ\PhiΦ on X∩D\mathcal X\cap\mathcal DX∩D, and xs+1x_{s+1}xs+1​ is some minimizer of the step objective. The oracle is a predicate on the random sequences (xs,g~s)(x_s,\tilde g_s)(xs​,g~​s​): each xsx_sxs​ is measurable, and the conditional expectations are taken given σ(xs)\sigma(x_s)σ(xs​). Every conditioned quantity is integrable.
  • Conclusions. Every bound on an expectation also asserts integrability. Without it, the Lean integral of a non-integrable function is 000 and the bound could hold trivially.
  • Standing assumptions. The book's R2=sup⁡(Φ−Φ(x1))R^2=\sup(\Phi-\Phi(x_1))R2=sup(Φ−Φ(x1​)) is replaced by any upper bound R2R^2R2. The minimizer x∗∈Xx^*\in\mathcal Xx∗∈X exists (p. 242). X\mathcal XX is compact and convex (Chapter 4), and convex functions are closed (p. 236).
  • Positivity side conditions. R,σ,B>0R,\sigma,B>0R,σ,B>0 and t≥1t\ge1t≥1 make the step sizes and bounds defined, and β≥0\beta\ge0β≥0.

A variance hypothesis stated only at deterministic points would not control the random iterates, and is not used. Run predicates that let xs+1x_{s+1}xs+1​ be an arbitrary point of X∩D\mathcal X\cap\mathcal DX∩D would make the theorems false, and are not used either.

A complete development needs: first-order optimality over a convex set, the three-point identity of Bregman divergences, the descent lemma in an arbitrary norm, and continuity of the gradient of a differentiable convex function. On the probability side it needs pull-out and conditional Jensen properties for dual-valued conditional expectations. The probability layer is reusable for every stochastic first-order method in the book, including SVRG and random coordinate descent. Proofs of the milestones are welcome, and so are general lemmas about conditional expectations of continuous-linear-map-valued random variables.

Selected references

  • S. Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning 8(3–4):231–358, 2015. arXiv:1405.4980v2, https://arxiv.org/abs/1405.4980 (Chapter 6, pp. 329–333; Chapter 4, pp. 297–307).
  • O. Dekel, R. Gilad-Bachrach, O. Shamir, L. Xiao, Optimal distributed online prediction using mini-batches, Journal of Machine Learning Research 13:165–202, 2012. https://jmlr.org/papers/v13/dekel12a.html
  • H. Robbins, S. Monro, A stochastic approximation method, Annals of Mathematical Statistics 22(3):400–407, 1951. https://doi.org/10.1214/aoms/1177729586
  • A. Beck, M. Teboulle, Mirror descent and nonlinear projected subgradient methods for convex optimization, Operations Research Letters 31(3):167–175, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-6377(02)00231-6
  • A. Nemirovski, A. Juditsky, G. Lan, A. Shapiro, Robust stochastic approximation approach to stochastic programming, SIAM Journal on Optimization 19(4):1574–1609, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1137/070704277
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Convex OptimizationNumerical AnalysisOptimization·Captain: mikedeng1

Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity XIII: Newton's Method Converges Quadratically, ‖x_{k+1} − x*‖ ≤ (M/μ)‖x_k − x*‖², from ‖x₀ − x*‖ ≤ μ/(2M)Textbook

Motivation

Newton's method is the basic second-order method of continuous optimization: at the current point it replaces the objective by its second-order Taylor model and jumps to the stationary point of that model. Its defining property is speed near a nondegenerate minimum, where the error is squared at every step, so that the number of correct digits roughly doubles per iteration. This local behaviour is what makes Newton's method the inner engine of interior point methods, the polynomial-time algorithms for linear, conic and general convex programming (Nesterov and Nemirovski, 1994). In S. Bubeck's monograph Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity (Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning, 2015; arXiv:1405.4980v2), §5.3.2 recalls the traditional local analysis of Newton's method, Theorem 5.3, before turning to the affine-invariant self-concordance analysis used for interior point methods. This mission formalizes that theorem and the four steps of its proof.

Setting

Let Rn\mathbb R^nRn carry the Euclidean norm ∥⋅∥\|\cdot\|∥⋅∥, and write ∥A∥\|A\|∥A∥ for the operator norm of a linear map A:Rn→RnA:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R^nA:Rn→Rn, so that ∥Ax∥≤∥A∥ ∥x∥\|Ax\|\le\|A\|\,\|x\|∥Ax∥≤∥A∥∥x∥. Let f:Rn→Rf:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb Rf:Rn→R be a C2C^2C2 function, with gradient ∇f(x)∈Rn\nabla f(x)\in\mathbb R^n∇f(x)∈Rn and Hessian ∇2f(x)\nabla^2 f(x)∇2f(x), a linear map Rn→Rn\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R^nRn→Rn (the derivative of the gradient map). For a real number ccc, A⪰cInA\succeq cI_nA⪰cIn​ means ⟨Av,v⟩≥c∥v∥2\langle Av,v\rangle\ge c\|v\|^2⟨Av,v⟩≥c∥v∥2 for all v∈Rnv\in\mathbb R^nv∈Rn.

The Hessian is MMM-Lipschitz if ∥∇2f(x)−∇2f(y)∥≤M∥x−y∥\|\nabla^2 f(x)-\nabla^2 f(y)\|\le M\|x-y\|∥∇2f(x)−∇2f(y)∥≤M∥x−y∥ for all x,y∈Rnx,y\in\mathbb R^nx,y∈Rn.

Newton's method starts at x0∈Rnx_0\in\mathbb R^nx0​∈Rn and iterates, for k≥0k\ge0k≥0,

xk+1=xk−[∇2f(xk)]−1∇f(xk).x_{k+1}=x_k-[\nabla^2 f(x_k)]^{-1}\nabla f(x_k).xk+1​=xk​−[∇2f(xk​)]−1∇f(xk​).

A point x∗x^*x∗ is a local minimum of fff if f(x∗)≤f(x)f(x^*)\le f(x)f(x∗)≤f(x) for all xxx in a neighbourhood of x∗x^*x∗; it has strictly positive Hessian if ∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn\nabla^2 f(x^*)\succeq\mu I_n∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn​ for some μ>0\mu>0μ>0.

Formalization targets

Goal: Theorem 5.3 (p. 320)

Assume the Hessian of fff is MMM-Lipschitz, M>0M>0M>0, and x∗x^*x∗ is a local minimum with ∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn\nabla^2 f(x^*)\succeq\mu I_n∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn​, μ>0\mu>0μ>0. If ∥x0−x∗∥≤μ/(2M)\|x_0-x^*\|\le\mu/(2M)∥x0​−x∗∥≤μ/(2M), then Newton's method from x0x_0x0​ is well defined (every Hessian along the iterates is invertible, so the sequence exists and is unique) and

∥xk+1−x∗∥≤Mμ ∥xk−x∗∥2(k≥0),xk→x∗.\|x_{k+1}-x^*\|\le\frac M\mu\,\|x_k-x^*\|^2\quad(k\ge0),\qquad x_k\to x^*.∥xk+1​−x∗∥≤μM​∥xk​−x∗∥2(k≥0),xk​→x∗.

Milestones (p. 321, the steps of the proof)

  1. The integral formula ∫01∇2f(x+sh) h ds=∇f(x+h)−∇f(x)\int_0^1\nabla^2 f(x+sh)\,h\,ds=\nabla f(x+h)-\nabla f(x)∫01​∇2f(x+sh)hds=∇f(x+h)−∇f(x).
  2. The error representation of one Newton step, xk+1−x∗=[∇2f(xk)]−1∫01[∇2f(xk)−∇2f(x∗+s(xk−x∗))](xk−x∗) dsx_{k+1}-x^*=[\nabla^2 f(x_k)]^{-1}\int_0^1[\nabla^2 f(x_k)-\nabla^2 f(x^*+s(x_k-x^*))](x_k-x^*)\,dsxk+1​−x∗=[∇2f(xk​)]−1∫01​[∇2f(xk​)−∇2f(x∗+s(xk​−x∗))](xk​−x∗)ds.
  3. The Lipschitz bound ∫01∥∇2f(xk)−∇2f(x∗+s(xk−x∗))∥ ds≤M2∥xk−x∗∥\int_0^1\|\nabla^2 f(x_k)-\nabla^2 f(x^*+s(x_k-x^*))\|\,ds\le\frac M2\|x_k-x^*\|∫01​∥∇2f(xk​)−∇2f(x∗+s(xk​−x∗))∥ds≤2M​∥xk​−x∗∥.
  4. The Hessian lower bound ∇2f(xk)⪰(μ−M∥xk−x∗∥)In⪰μ2In\nabla^2 f(x_k)\succeq(\mu-M\|x_k-x^*\|)I_n\succeq\frac\mu2I_n∇2f(xk​)⪰(μ−M∥xk​−x∗∥)In​⪰2μ​In​ when ∥xk−x∗∥≤μ/(2M)\|x_k-x^*\|\le\mu/(2M)∥xk​−x∗∥≤μ/(2M).

Significance

The theorem gives a quantitative basin of quadratic convergence: an explicit radius μ/(2M)\mu/(2M)μ/(2M), depending only on the curvature at the minimum and the Lipschitz constant of the Hessian, inside which Newton's method needs only O(log⁡log⁡(1/ε))O(\log\log(1/\varepsilon))O(loglog(1/ε)) iterations to reach accuracy ε\varepsilonε. It is the classical statement whose shortcomings (dependence on a choice of norm, constants that change under linear changes of variables) motivate the self-concordance theory of the following subsections, and it is the local convergence result invoked whenever a damped or globalized Newton scheme is shown to enter its quadratic phase.

On the formal side, Mathlib has the calculus this needs (Fréchet derivatives, interval integrals of vector-valued maps, operator norms) but no convergence theorem for multivariate Newton's method for minimization. A formal proof produces reusable pieces: the integral form of the mean value theorem for gradients, the stability of a positive-definite lower bound under Lipschitz perturbations, and an inverse-operator norm bound from a quadratic-form lower bound. The result itself is classical and fully proved in the literature; what is open here is its machine-checked proof in this form.

Difficulty

The individual inequalities are short, but the argument is an induction in which well-definedness and the rate are proved together: the Hessian at xkx_kxk​ is invertible only because xkx_kxk​ is still in the ball of radius μ/(2M)\mu/(2M)μ/(2M), and xk+1x_{k+1}xk+1​ stays in that ball only because of the rate. A proof that first assumes the sequence exists and then bounds it is circular. The proof also passes between two kinds of control on the Hessian, a lower bound on its quadratic form and an operator-norm bound on its inverse, and the second is only meaningful once invertibility is established. Finally, the integral manipulations need integrability of the maps s↦∇2f(x∗+s(xk−x∗))(xk−x∗)s\mapsto\nabla^2 f(x^*+s(x_k-x^*))(x_k-x^*)s↦∇2f(x∗+s(xk​−x∗))(xk​−x∗), which comes from the continuity of the Hessian.

Formalization scope

Rn\mathbb R^nRn is EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin n). The gradient and Hessian are explicit maps g:Rn→Rng:\mathbb R^n\to\mathbb R^ng:Rn→Rn and H:Rn→(Rn→LRn)H:\mathbb R^n\to(\mathbb R^n\to_L\mathbb R^n)H:Rn→(Rn→L​Rn) with ContDiff ℝ 2 f, HasGradientAt f (g x) x and HasFDerivAt g (H x) x at every point; the norm on H(x)H(x)H(x) is Mathlib's operator norm, as on the page. A⪰cInA\succeq cI_nA⪰cIn​ is the quadratic-form inequality. A Newton run is a sequence x:N→Rnx:\mathbb N\to\mathbb R^nx:N→Rn indexed from 000 satisfying the linear system ∇2f(xk)(xk−xk+1)=∇f(xk)\nabla^2 f(x_k)(x_k-x_{k+1})=\nabla f(x_k)∇2f(xk​)(xk​−xk+1​)=∇f(xk​); no inverse of a possibly singular operator appears in any hypothesis, and "well defined" is a conclusion: a unique run exists from x0x_0x0​ and every Hessian along it is bijective. The rate and xk→x∗x_k\to x^*xk​→x∗ are asserted for every run. The error representation is stated with both sides multiplied by ∇2f(xk)\nabla^2 f(x_k)∇2f(xk​), which is equivalent to the printed form once the Hessian is invertible. Milestones 3 and 4 use only the Lipschitz property and are stated for any Lipschitz map HHH.

Added hypothesis: M>0M>0M>0 (the radius μ/(2M)\mu/(2M)μ/(2M) divides by MMM; with M=0M=0M=0, Lean's convention μ/0=0\mu/0=0μ/0=0 would collapse the hypothesis to x0=x∗x_0=x^*x0​=x∗). Convexity of fff is not assumed, as on the page; x∗x^*x∗ is a local minimum and ∇f(x∗)=0\nabla f(x^*)=0∇f(x∗)=0 is derived, not assumed. Encoding the Newton step with Lean's inverse (which returns 000 on singular maps), or replacing ∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn\nabla^2 f(x^*)\succeq\mu I_n∇2f(x∗)⪰μIn​ by mere invertibility, would change the theorem and is ruled out.

A complete development needs the fundamental theorem of calculus for C1C^1C1 vector-valued maps along segments, Hessian-based quadratic-form estimates, and operator-norm bounds for inverses; all are reusable for the analysis of damped Newton, cubic regularization and interior point methods. Proofs of the milestones independently of the goal are welcome.

Selected references

  • S. Bubeck, Convex Optimization: Algorithms and Complexity, Foundations and Trends in Machine Learning 8(3–4):231–358, 2015. arXiv:1405.4980v2, §5.3.2, Theorem 5.3, pp. 320–321.
  • Yu. Nesterov and A. Nemirovski, Interior-Point Polynomial Algorithms in Convex Programming, SIAM Studies in Applied Mathematics 13, 1994. doi:10.1137/1.9781611970791
  • Yu. Nesterov, Introductory Lectures on Convex Optimization: A Basic Course, Kluwer, 2004, Theorem 1.2.5. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8853-9
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