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Abstract. The focus of this dissertation is on matrix decompositions that use a limited amount of computer memory � thereby allowing problems with a very large number of variables to be solved. Speci�cally � we will focus on two applications areas � optimization and information retrieval. We introduce a general algebraic form for the matrix update in limited�memory quasi� Newton methods. Many well�known methods such as limited�memory Broyden Family meth� ods satisfy the general form. We are able to prove several results about methods which sat� isfy the general form. In particular � we show that the only limited�memory Broyden Family method �using exact line searches � that is guaranteed to terminate within n iterations on an n�dimensional strictly convex quadratic is the limited�memory BFGS method. Further� more � we are able to introduce several new variations on the limited�memory BFGS method that retain the quadratic termination property. We also have a new result that shows that full�memory Broyden Family methods �using exact line searches � that skip p updates to the quasi�Newton matrix will terminate in no more than n�p steps on an n�dimensional strictly convex quadratic. We propose several new variations on the limited�memory BFGS method

Abstract. We give conditions under which limited-memory quasi-Newton methods with exact line searches will terminate in n steps when minimizing n-dimensional quadratic functions. We show that although all Broyden family methods terminate in n steps in their full-memory versions, only BFGS does so with limited-memory. Additionally, we show that full-memory Broyden family methods with exact line searches terminate in at most n + p steps when p matrix updates are skipped. We introduce new limited-memory BFGS variants and test them on nonquadratic minimization problems.

We consider some algorithms for unconstrained minimization without derivatives that form linear or quadratic models by interpolation to values of the objective function. Then a new vector of variables is calculated by minimizing the current model within a trust region. Techniques are described for adjusting the trust region radius, and for choosing positions of the interpolation points that maintain not only nonsingularity of the interpolation equations but also the adequacy of the model. Particular attention is given to quadratic models with diagonal second derivative matrices, because numerical experiments show that they are often more efficient than full quadratic models for general objective functions. Finally, some recent research on the updating of full quadratic models is described briefly, using fewer interpolation equations than before. The resultant freedom is taken up by minimizing the Frobenius norm of the change to the second derivative matrix of the model. A preliminary version of this method provides some very promising numerical results.

Multi-step, multi-directional parallel variable metric...

A common practice in modern engineering is that of simulation-driven optimization. This implies replacing costly and lengthy laboratory experiments with computer experiments, i.e. computationally-intensive simulations which model real world physics with high fidelity. Due to the complexity of such simulations a single simulation run can require up to