An alternating linearization bundle method for a class of nonconvex optimization problem with inexact information

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We propose an alternating linearization bundle method for minimizing the sum of a nonconvex function and a convex function. The convex function is assumed to be "simple" in the sense that finding its proximal-like point is relatively easy. The nonconvex function is known through oracles which provide inexact information. The errors in function values and subgradient evaluations might be unknown, but are bounded by universal constants. We examine an alternating linearization bundle method in this setting and obtain reasonable convergence properties. Numerical results show the good performance of the method.