Convex Quadratic Relaxations of Nonconvex Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programs

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Authors:

John E. Mitchell
mitchj at rpi dot edu
Department of Mathematical Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180-3590, U.S.A

Jong-Shi Pang
jspang at illinois dot edu
Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 117 Transportation Bldg., 104 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801.

Bin Yu
yub at rpi dot edu
Department of Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180-3590, U.S.A

Publication details:

Optimization Methods and Software, 29(1), pages 120-136, 2014.

Abstract:

Nonconvex quadratic constraints can be linearized to obtain relaxations in a well-understood manner. We propose to tighten the relaxation by using second order cone constraints, resulting in a convex quadratic relaxation. Our quadratic approximation to the bilinear term is compared to the linear McCormick bounds. The second order cone constraints are based on linear combinations of pairs of variables. With good bounds on these linear combinations, the resulting constraints strengthen the McCormick bounds. Computational results are given, which indicate that the convex quadratic relaxation can dramatically improve the solution times for some problems.

Keywords: quadratically constrained quadratic programs; second order cones; convex outer approximations.

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