The min-max problem, also known as the saddle point problem, is a class of optimization problems in which we minimize and maximize two subsets of variables simultaneously. This class of problems can be used to formulate a wide range of signal processing and communication (SPCOM) problems. Despite its popularity, existing theory for this class has been mainly developed for problems with certain special convex-concave structure. Therefore, it cannot be used to guide the algorithm design for many interesting problems in SPCOM, where some kind of non-convexity often arises. In this work, we consider a general block-wise one-sided nonconvex min-max problem, in which the minimization problem consists of multiple blocks and is non-convex, while the maximization problem is (strongly) concave. We propose a class of simple algorithms named Hybrid Block Successive Approximation (HiBSA), which alternatingly performs gradient descent-type steps for the minimization blocks and one gradient ascent-type step for the maximization problem. A key element in the proposed algorithm is the introduction of certain properly designed regularization and penalty terms, which are used to stabilize the algorithm and ensure convergence. For the first time, we show that such simple alternating min-max algorithms converge to first-order stationary solutions, with quantifiable global rates. To validate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms, we conduct numerical tests on a number of information processing and wireless communication problems, including the robust learning problem, the non-convex min-utility maximization problems, and certain wireless jamming problem arising in interfering channels.

We take a new look at the relation between the optimal transport problem and the Schrödinger bridge problem from a stochastic control perspective. Our aim is to highlight new connections between the two that are richer and deeper than those previously described in the literature. We begin with an elementary derivation of the Benamou–Brenier fluid dynamic version of the optimal transport problem and provide, in parallel, a new fluid dynamic version of the Schrödinger bridge problem. We observe that the latter establishes an important connection with optimal transport without zero-noise limits and solves a question posed by Eric Carlen in 2006. Indeed, the two variational problems differ by a Fisher information functional. We motivate and consider a generalization of optimal mass transport in the form of a (fluid dynamic) problem of optimal transport with prior. This can be seen as the zero-noise limit of Schrödinger bridges when the prior is any Markovian evolution. We finally specialize to the Gaussian case and derive an explicit computational theory based on matrix Riccati differential equations. A numerical example involving Brownian particles is also provided.

We describe possible generalizations of the Wasserstein-2 metric, originally defined on the space of scalar probability densities, to the space of trace-one Hermitian matrices and to the space of matrix-valued probability densities. Our approach follows a control-theoretic optimization formulation of the Wasserstein-2 metric, having its roots in fluid dynamics, and utilizes a formalism from Quantum mechanics of open systems. Besides potential applications of our results to matrix-valued distributions (e.g., to matrix-valued power spectral analysis, diffusion tensor imaging, etc.), our framework has direct implications to key structures in Quantum mechanics. It induces a Wasserstein geometry to Quantum states and allows determining the gradient flows with respect to the newly defined Wasserstein metric(s). It allows expressing, in particular, the Lindblad equation of open Quantum systems as a gradient flow of the von Neumann Quantum entropy.

The subject of this work has its roots in the so called Schroedginer Bridge Problem (SBP) which asks for the most likely distribution of Brownian particles in their passage between observed empirical marginal distributions at two distinct points in time. Renewed interest in this problem was sparked by a reformulation in the language of stochastic control. In earlier works, presented as Part I and Part II, we explored a generalization of the original SBP that amounts to optimal steering of linear stochastic dynamical systems between state- distributions, at two points in time, under full state feedback. In these works the cost was quadratic in the control input, i.e., control energy. The purpose of the present work is to detail the technical steps in extending the framework to the case where a quadratic cost in the state is also present. Thus, the main contribution is to derive the optimal control in this case which in fact is given in closed-form (Theorem 1). In the zero- noise limit, we also obtain the solution of a (deterministic) mass transport problem with general quadratic cost.

We study multi-marginal optimal transport problems from a probabilistic graphical model perspective. We point out an elegant connection between the two when the underlying cost for optimal transport allows a graph structure. In particular, an entropy regularized multi-marginal optimal transport is equivalent to a Bayesian marginal inference problem for probabilistic graphical models with the additional requirement that some of the marginal distributions are specified. This relation on the one hand extends the optimal transport as well as the probabilistic graphical model theories, and on the other hand leads to fast algorithms for multi-marginal optimal transport by leveraging the well-developed algorithms in Bayesian inference. Several numerical examples are provided to highlight the results.

We consider damped stochastic systems in a controlled (time varying) potential and study their transition between specified Gibbs-equilibria states in finite time. By the second law of thermodynamics, the minimum amount of work needed for the transition from one equilibrium state to another is the difference between the Helmholtz free energy of the two states and can only be achieved by a reversible (infinitely slow) process. The minimal gap between the work needed in a finite-time transition and the work during a reversible one, turns out to equal the square of the optimal mass transport (Wasserstein-2) distance between the two end-point distributions times the inverse of the duration needed for the transition. This result, in fact, relates nonequilibrium optimal control strategies (protocols) to gradient flows of entropy functionals via the Jordan-Kinderlehrer-Otto scheme. The purpose of this paper is to introduce ideas and results from the emerging field of stochastic thermodynamics in the setting of the classical regulator theory, and to draw connections and derive such fundamental relations from a control perspective in a multivariable setting.