In this work we are interested in stochastic particle methods for multi-objective optimization. The problem is formulated via scalarization using parametrized, single-objective sub-problems which are solved simultaneously. To this end a consensus based multi-objective optimization method on the search space combined with an additional heuristic strategy to adapt parameters during the computations is proposed. The adaptive strategy aims to distribute the particles uniformly over the image space, in particular over the Pareto front, by using energy-based measures to quantify the diversity of the system. The resulting gradient-free metaheuristic algorithm is mathematically analyzed using a mean-field approximation of the algorithm iteration and convergence guarantees towards Pareto optimal points are rigorously proven. In addition, we analyze the dynamics when the Pareto front corresponds to the unit simplex, and show that the adaptive mechanism reduces to a gradient flow in this case. Several numerical experiments show the validity of the proposed stochastic particle dynamics, investigate the role of the algorithm parameters and validate the theoretical findings.

We present a control approach for large systems of interacting agents based on the Riccati equation. If the agent dynamics enjoys a strong symmetry the arising high dimensional Riccati equation is simplified and the resulting coupled system allows for a formal mean--field limit. The steady--states of the kinetic equation of Boltzmann and Fokker Planck type can be studied analytically. In case of linear dynamics and quadratic objective function the presented approach is optimal and is compared to the model predictive control approach introduced in [2].

In this work we are interested in the construction of numerical methods for high-dimensional constrained nonlinear optimization problems by particle-based gradient-free techniques. A cons...

Based on experimental traffic data obtained from German and US highways, we propose a novel two-dimensional first-order macroscopic traffic flow model. The goal is to reproduce a detailed description of traffic dynamics for the real road geometry. In our approach both the dynamics along the road and across the lanes is continuous. The closure relations, being necessary to complete the hydrodynamics equation, are obtained by regression on fundamental diagram data. Comparison with prediction of one-dimensional models shows the improvement in performance of the novel model.

The Ensemble Kalman Filter method can be used as an iterative numerical scheme for parameter identification ornonlinear filtering problems. We study the limit of infinitely large ensemble size and derive the corresponding mean-field limit of the ensemble method. The solution of the inverse problem is provided by the expected value of the distribution of the ensembles and the kinetic equation allows, in simple cases, to analyze stability of these solutions. Further, we present a slight but stable modification of the method which leads to a Fokker-Planck-type kinetic equation. The kinetic methods proposed here are able to solve the problem with a reduced computational complexity in the limit of a large ensemble size. We illustrate the properties and the ability of the kinetic model to provide solution to inverse problems by using examples from the literature.