Constrained Optimization

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Overview

The field studies how to optimize an objective over a feasible set, from convex programs and combinatorial problems to nonconvex models with complex or conflicting constraints. Classical approaches include projection and Frank–Wolfe methods, interior-point and augmented-Lagrangian algorithms, and evolutionary search; newer work also learns feasible solutions or uses neural projections and solver warm starts. Applications range from robotic trajectory planning and power-grid operation to fair machine learning, resource allocation, and scheduling. A central challenge is balancing scalable computation with reliable feasibility and convergence guarantees, especially for nonconvex or infeasible problems and settings without standard regularity conditions.

Latest papers

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337 papers40 papers in the last four weeks, up 29% on the four weeks before. 0.2% of all new papers.

  1. Learning with Embedded Linear Equality Constraints via Variational Bayesian Inference

    Apr 27, 2026Matthew Marsh, Benoît Chachuat, Antonio del Rio ChanonaBayesian Neural NetworksUncertainty Quantification

    Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London

  2. Control Barrier Functions Solved with Hierarchical Quadratic Programming for Safe Physical Human-Robot Interaction

    Apr 24, 2026Rui Luo, Jonas Mariager Jakobsen, Wesley Roozing +2Robotic ControlControl Barrier Functions

  3. Relaxation-Informed Training of Neural Network Surrogate Models

    Apr 24, 2026Calvin TsayNeural Surrogate ModelingMixed-Integer Linear Programming

    Department of Computing, Imperial College London, South Kensington, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.

  4. ATRS: Adaptive Trajectory Re-splitting via a Shared Neural Policy for Parallel Optimization

    Apr 24, 2026Jiajun Yu, Guodong Liu, Li Wang +6Trajectory OptimizationAlternating Direction Method of Multipliers

  5. Fast and Effective Redistricting Optimization via Composite-Move Tabu Search

    Apr 24, 2026Hai Jin, Diansheng GuoCombinatorial OptimizationConstrained Optimization

    Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

  6. Decision-Focused Federated Learning Under Heterogeneous Objectives and Constraints

    Apr 21, 2026Konstantinos Ziliaskopoulos, Alexander VinelPredict-Then-OptimizeLearning to Optimize

    Auburn University

  7. HardNet++: Nonlinear Constraint Enforcement in Neural Networks

    Apr 21, 2026Andrea Goertzen, Kaveh Alim, Youngjae Min +1Nonlinear MPCNeural Network Optimization

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8. Policy Gradient Primal-Dual Method for Safe Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

    Apr 21, 2026Qiang Liu, Adrienne Kline, Ermin WeiConstrained RLPolicy Gradient Methods

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA · Center for Artificial Intelligence, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA · Department of Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA +3

  9. On The Mathematics of the Natural Physics of Optimization

    Apr 19, 2026I. M. RossConstrained Optimization

    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

  10. Safe and Policy-Compliant Multi-Agent Orchestration for Enterprise AI

    Apr 19, 2026Vinil Pasupuleti, Shyalendar Reddy Allala, Siva Rama Krishna Varma Bayyavarapu +1Multi-Agent System OptimizationMulti-Agent Coordination

    International Business Machines · International Business Machines (IBM) · South Carolina, United States +6

  11. Trajectory-Restricted Optimization Conditions and Geometry-Aware Linear Convergence

    Apr 18, 2026Faris Chaudhry, Anthea Monod, Keisuke YanoOptimization Convergence AnalysisConstrained Optimization

    Imperial College London, UK · Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Japan

  12. Adaptive Test-Time Compute Allocation for Reasoning LLMs via Constrained Policy Optimization

    Apr 16, 2026Zhiyuan Zhai, Bingcong Li, Bingnan Xiao +2Test-Time ScalingConstrained Optimization

    Fudan University · ETH Zurich · Guangming Lab

  13. Deployment of AI-Assisted Interventions: Capacity Constraints and Noisy Compliance

    Apr 15, 2026Carri W. Chan, Yi Han, Hannah Li +1AI-Assisted Decision MakingConstrained Optimization

    Decision, Risk, and Operations, Columbia Business School · Department of Statistics, Columbia University · Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

  14. Stochastic Trust-Region Methods for Over-parameterized Models

    Apr 15, 2026Aike Yang, Hao WangTrust-Region OptimizationNonconvex Stochastic Optimization

    ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

  15. Optimizing Earth Observation Satellite Schedules under Unknown Operational Constraints: An Active Constraint Acquisition Approach

    Apr 14, 2026Mohamed-Bachir BelaidConstrained OptimizationLearning to Optimize

    NILU, Climate and environmental research institute, Kjeller, Norway

  16. HUANet: Hard-Constrained Unrolled ADMM for Constrained Convex Optimization

    Apr 14, 2026Trinh Tran, Binh Nguyen, Truong X. NghiemLearning to OptimizeAlternating Direction Method of Multipliers

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA

  17. Complementarity by Construction: A Lie-Group Approach to Solving Quadratic Programs with Linear Complementarity Constraints

    Apr 13, 2026Arun L. Bishop, Micah I. Reich, Zachary ManchesterConstrained OptimizationQuadratic Programming

    Authors are with the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University · Author is with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  18. On the Use of Bi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms for the Stochastic MKP under Dynamic Constraints

    Apr 13, 2026Ishara Hewa Pathiranage, Aneta NeumannCombinatorial OptimizationConstrained Optimization

    Machine Learning and Optimisation, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Adelaide University, Adelaide, Australia

  19. RCBSF: A Multi-Agent Framework for Automated Contract Revision via Stackelberg Game

    Apr 12, 2026Shijia Xu, Yu Wang, Xiaolong Jia +3Multi-Agent LLMsLLM Agent Safety

    Chongqing University, China · Queen Mary University of London, UK · Chongqing Key Laboratory of Big Data Intelligence and Privacy Computing, China +1

  20. LCO: LLM-based Constraint Optimization for Safer Agentic LLMs in Real-world Tasks

    Apr 8, 2026Jiayong Wan, Jiawei Chen, Zhaoxia Yin +2LLM Agent SafetyConstrained Optimization

    East China Normal University, Shanghai, China · Beijing Zhongguancun Academy, Beijing, China · Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

  21. LMI-Net: Linear Matrix Inequality--Constrained Neural Networks via Differentiable Projection Layers

    Apr 7, 2026Sunbochen Tang, Andrea Goertzen, Navid AzizanConstrained OptimizationDifferentiable Optimization

    Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

  22. Primal-Dual Methods for Nonsmooth Nonconvex Optimization with Orthogonality Constraints

    Apr 5, 2026Linglingzhi Zhu, Wentao Ding, Shangyuan Liu +1Orthogonal OptimizationConstrained Optimization

    H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA · Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong

  23. Improving Feasibility via Fast Autoencoder-Based Projections

    Apr 3, 2026Maria Chzhen, Priya L. DontiConstrained OptimizationConstrained RL

    University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada · Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA, USA

  24. Principled and Scalable Diversity-Aware Retrieval via Cardinality-Constrained Binary Quadratic Programming

    Apr 2, 2026Qiheng Lu, Nicholas D. SidiropoulosFrank-Wolfe AlgorithmsConstrained Optimization

    University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA

  25. Tool-Augmented Agent for Closed-loop Optimization,Simulation,and Modeling Orchestration

    Apr 1, 2026Liyuan Deng, Shujian Deng, Yongkang Chen +6LLM Agent OrchestrationConstrained Optimization

    Northwestern Polytechnical University · Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

  26. Transfer Learning in Bayesian Optimization for Aircraft Design

    Mar 30, 2026Ali Tfaily, Youssef Diouane, Nathalie Bartoli +1Bayesian OptimizationSurrogate-Assisted Optimization

    1*Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Canada. · 2Advanced Product Development, Bombardier, Canada. · Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada. +4

  27. Rethinking Language Model Scaling under Transferable Hypersphere Optimization

    Mar 30, 2026Liliang Ren, Yang Liu, Yelong Shen +1Language Model Scaling LawsHyperparameter Transfer

    Microsoft

  28. Dogfight Search: A Swarm-Based Optimization Algorithm for Complex Engineering Optimization and Mountainous Terrain Path Planning

    Mar 30, 2026Yujing Sun, Jie Cai, Xingguo Xu +4Metaheuristic OptimizationConstrained Optimization

    College of Science, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, 123000, China · School of Mathematical Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China · College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China +1

  29. RDEx-CSOP: Feasibility-Aware Reconstructed Differential Evolution with Adaptive epsilon-Constraint Ranking

    Mar 28, 2026Sichen Tao, Yifei Yang, Ruihan Zhao +3Constrained OptimizationDifferential Evolution

    Department of Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama-shi 930-8555, Japan · Cyberscience Center, Tohoku University, Sendai-shi 980-8578, Japan · Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki-shi 036-8560, Japan +5

  30. RDEx-SOP: Exploitation-Biased Reconstructed Differential Evolution for Fixed-Budget Bound-Constrained Single-Objective Optimization

    Mar 28, 2026Sichen Tao, Yifei Yang, Ruihan Zhao +3Differential EvolutionConstrained Optimization

    Department of Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama-shi 930-8555, Japan · Cyberscience Center, Tohoku University, Sendai-shi 980-8578, Japan · Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki-shi 036-8560, Japan +5