math.OCNov 3, 2026

Tight Lower Bounds under Matched High-Order Hölder Smoothness and Uniform Convexity

Authors: Cedar Site Bai

Organizations: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University

Abstract

In this paper, we provide tight lower bounds for minimizing high-order Hölder-smooth and uniformly convex functions when their orders match. Specifically, we consider functions whose pthp^{th}-order derivatives are Hölder continuous with degree νν and parameter HH, and that are uniformly convex with degree qq and parameter σσ. When these orders match, namely, q=p+νq = p + ν, we show that any deterministic algorithm with access to derivatives up to order pp requires Ω((Hσ)23(p+ν)−2log⁡Δ0ε)Ω\left(\left(\frac{H}σ\right)^{\frac{2}{3(p+ν)-2}}\log\frac{Δ_0}ε\right) oracle calls to reduce an initial optimality gap of Δ0Δ_0 to εε. This matches the corresponding upper bound and establishes a higher-order uniformly convex counterpart to Nesterov's classical first-order lower bound for strongly convex functions. Rather than directly generalizing Nesterov's classical quadratic-chain construction, we develop a multiscale phase-wise construction that preserves previous oracle responses while maintaining global Hölder smoothness and uniform convexity. Our result resolves the matched case left open by existing lower bounds for the two asymmetric regimes.

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