Emre Mengi

Daniel Kressner, Emre Mengi, Ivica Nakic et al.

We consider the distance from a (square or rectangular) matrix pencil to the nearest matrix pencil in 2-norm that has a set of specified eigenvalues. We derive a singular value optimization characterization for this problem and illustrate its usefulness for two applications. First, the characterization yields a singular value formula for determining the nearest pencil whose eigenvalues lie in a specified region in the complex plane. For instance, this enables the numerical computation of the nearest stable descriptor system in control theory. Second, the characterization partially solves the problem posed in [Boutry et al. 2005] regarding the distance from a general rectangular pencil to the nearest pencil with a complete set of eigenvalues. The involved singular value optimization problems are solved by means of BFGS and Lipschitz-based global optimization algorithms.

Nicat Aliyev, Volker Mehrmann, Emre Mengi

A linear time-invariant dissipative Hamiltonian (DH) system x' = (J-R)Q x, with a skew-Hermitian J, an Hermitian positive semi-definite R, and an Hermitian positive definite Q, is always Lyapunov stable and under weak further conditions even asymptotically stable. In various applications there is uncertainty on the system matrices J, R, Q, and it is desirable to know whether the system remains asymptotically stable uniformly against all possible uncertainties within a given perturbation set. Such robust stability considerations motivate the concept of stability radius for DH systems, i.e., what is the maximal perturbation permissible to the coefficients J, R, Q, while preserving the asymptotic stability. We consider two stability radii, the unstructured one where J, R, Q are subject to unstructured perturbation, and the structured one where the perturbations preserve the DH structure. We employ characterizations for these radii that have been derived recently in [SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 37, pp. 1625-1654, 2016] and propose new algorithms to compute these stability radii for large scale problems by tailoring subspace frameworks that are interpolatory and guaranteed to converge at a super-linear rate in theory. At every iteration, they first solve a reduced problem and then expand the subspaces in order to attain certain Hermite interpolation properties between the full and reduced problems. The reduced problems are solved by means of the adaptations of existing level-set algorithms for H-infinity norm computation in the unstructured case, while, for the structured radii, we benefit from algorithms that approximate the objective eigenvalue function with a piece-wise quadratic global underestimator. The performance of the new approaches is illustrated with several examples including a system that arises from a finite-element modeling of an industrial disk brake.

Michiel E. Hochstenbach, Karl Meerbergen, Emre Mengi et al.

We propose subspace methods for 3-parameter eigenvalue problems. Such problems arise when separation of variables is applied to separable boundary value problems; a particular example is the Helmholtz equation in ellipsoidal and paraboloidal coordinates. While several subspace methods for 2-parameter eigenvalue problems exist, their extensions to three parameter setting seem to be challenging. An inherent difficulty is that, while for 2-parameter eigenvalue problems we can exploit a relation to Sylvester equations to obtain a fast Arnoldi type method, such a relation does not seem to exist when there are three or more parameters. Instead, we introduce a subspace iteration method with projections onto generalized Krylov subspaces that are constructed from scratch at every iteration using certain Ritz vectors as the initial vectors. Another possibility is a Jacobi--Davidson type method for three or more parameters, which we generalize from its 2-parameter counterpart. For both approaches, we introduce a selection criterion for deflation that is based on the angles between left and right eigenvectors. The Jacobi--Davidson approach is devised to locate eigenvalues close to a prescribed target, yet it often also performs well when eigenvalues are sought based on the proximity of one of the components to a prescribed target. The subspace iteration method is devised specifically for the latter task. The proposed approaches are suitable especially for problems where the computation of several eigenvalues is required with high accuracy. Matlab implementations of both methods have been made available in the package MultiParEig.

Emre Mengi, Emre Alper Yildirim, Mustafa Kilic

This work concerns the global minimization of a prescribed eigenvalue or a weighted sum of prescribed eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix-valued function depending on its parameters analytically in a box. We describe how the analytical properties of eigenvalue functions can be put into use to derive piece-wise quadratic functions that underestimate the eigenvalue functions. These piece-wise quadratic under-estimators lead us to a global minimization algorithm, originally due to Breiman and Cutler. We prove the global convergence of the algorithm, and show that it can be effectively used for the minimization of extreme eigenvalues, e.g., the largest eigenvalue or the sum of the largest specified number of eigenvalues. This is particularly facilitated by the analytical formulas for the first derivatives of eigenvalues, as well as analytical lower bounds on the second derivatives that can be deduced for extreme eigenvalue functions. The applications that we have in mind also include the ${\rm H}_\infty$-norm of a linear dynamical system, numerical radius, distance to uncontrollability and various other non-convex eigenvalue optimization problems, for which, generically, the eigenvalue function involved is simple at all points.

Michael Karow, Emre Mengi

This work concerns the distance in 2-norm from a matrix polynomial to a nearest polynomial with a specified number of its eigenvalues at specified locations in the complex plane. Perturbations are allowed only on the constant coefficient matrix. Singular value optimization formulas are derived for these distances facilitating their computation. The singular value optimization problems, when the number of specified eigenvalues is small, can be solved numerically by exploiting the Lipschitzness and piece-wise analyticity of the singular values with respect to the parameters.

Fatih Kangal, Emre Mengi

Non-smoothness at optimal points is a common phenomenon in many eigenvalue optimization problems. We consider two recent algorithms to minimize the largest eigenvalue of a Hermitian matrix dependent on one parameter, both proven to be globally convergent unaffected by non-smoothness. One of these models the eigenvalue function with a piece-wise quadratic function, and effective in dealing with non-convex problems. The other projects the Hermitian matrix into subspaces formed of eigenvectors, and effective in dealing with large-scale problems. We generalize the latter slightly to cope with non-smoothness. For both algorithms, we analyze the rate-of-convergence in the non-smooth setting, when the largest eigenvalue is multiple at the minimizer and zero is strictly in the interior of the generalized Clarke derivative, and prove that both algorithms converge rapidly. The algorithms are applied to, and the deduced results are illustrated on the computation of the inner numerical radius, the modulus of the point on the boundary of the field of values closest to the origin, which carries significance for instance for the numerical solution of a definite generalized symmetric eigenvalue problem.

Nicat Aliyev, Peter Benner, Emre Mengi et al.

We deal with the minimization of the ${\mathcal H}_\infty$-norm of the transfer function of a parameter-dependent descriptor system over the set of admissible parameter values. Subspace frameworks are proposed for such minimization problems where the involved systems are of large order. The proposed algorithms are greedy interpolatory approaches inspired by our recent work [Aliyev et al., SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 38(4):1496--1516, 2017] for the computation of the ${\mathcal H}_\infty$-norm. In this work, we minimize the ${\mathcal H}_\infty$-norm of a reduced-order parameter-dependent system obtained by two-sided restrictions onto certain subspaces. Then we expand the subspaces so that Hermite interpolation properties hold between the full and reduced-order system at the optimal parameter value for the reduced order system. We formally establish the superlinear convergence of the subspace frameworks under some smoothness assumptions. The fast convergence of the proposed frameworks in practice is illustrated by several large-scale systems.

Emre Mengi

The larger the distance to instability from a matrix is, the more robustly stable the associated autonomous dynamical system is in the presence of uncertainties and typically the less severe transient behavior its solution exhibits. Motivated by these issues, we consider the maximization of the distance to instability of a matrix dependent on several parameters, a nonconvex optimization problem that is likely to be nonsmooth. In the first part we propose a globally convergent algorithm when the matrix is of small size and depends on a few parameters. In the second part we deal with the problems involving large matrices. We tailor a subspace framework that reduces the size of the matrix drastically. The strength of the tailored subspace framework is proven with a global convergence result as the subspaces grow and a superlinear rate-of-convergence result with respect to the subspace dimension.

Fatih Kangal, Karl Meerbergen, Emre Mengi et al.

We consider the minimization or maximization of the $J$th largest eigenvalue of an analytic and Hermitian matrix-valued function, and build on Mengi et al. (2014, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 35, 699-724). This work addresses the setting when the matrix-valued function involved is very large. We describe subspace procedures that convert the original problem into a small-scale one by means of orthogonal projections and restrictions to certain subspaces, and that gradually expand these subspaces based on the optimal solutions of small-scale problems. Global convergence and superlinear rate-of-convergence results with respect to the dimensions of the subspaces are presented in the infinite dimensional setting, where the matrix-valued function is replaced by a compact operator depending on parameters. In practice, it suffices to solve eigenvalue optimization problems involving matrices with sizes on the scale of tens, instead of the original problem involving matrices with sizes on the scale of thousands.

Nicat Aliyev, Peter Benner, Emre Mengi et al.

We are concerned with the computation of the ${\mathcal L}_\infty$-norm for an ${\mathcal L}_\infty$-function of the form $H(s) = C(s) D(s)^{-1} B(s)$, where the middle factor is the inverse of a meromorphic matrix-valued function, and $C(s),\, B(s)$ are meromorphic functions mapping to short-and-fat and tall-and-skinny matrices, respectively. For instance, transfer functions of descriptor systems and delay systems fall into this family. We focus on the case where the middle factor is large-scale. We propose a subspace projection method to obtain approximations of the function $H$ where the middle factor is of much smaller dimension. The ${\mathcal L}_\infty$-norms are computed for the resulting reduced functions, then the subspaces are refined by means of the optimal points on the imaginary axis where the ${\mathcal L}_\infty$-norm of the reduced function is attained. The subspace method is designed so that certain Hermite interpolation properties hold between the largest singular values of the original and reduced functions. This leads to a locally superlinearly convergent algorithm with respect to the subspace dimension, which we prove and illustrate on various numerical examples.