Exponential upper bounds for the runtime of randomized search heuristics

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Abstract

We argue that proven exponential upper bounds on runtimes, an established area in classic algorithms, are interesting also in evolutionary computation and we prove several such results. We show that any of the algorithms randomized local search, Metropolis algorithm, simulated annealing, and $$(1+1)$$ evolutionary algorithm can optimize any pseudo-Boolean weakly monotonic function under a large set of noise assumptions in a runtime that is at most exponential in the problem dimension n. This drastically extends a previous such result, limited to the $$(1+1)$$ EA, the LeadingOnes function, and one-bit or bit-wise prior noise with noise probability at most 1/2, and at the same time simplifies its proof. With the same general argument, among others, we also derive a sub-exponential upper bound for the runtime of the $$(1,\lambda )$$ evolutionary algorithm on the OneMax problem when the offspring population size $$\lambda $$ is logarithmic, but below the efficiency threshold.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationParallel Problem Solving from Nature – PPSN XVI - 16th International Conference, PPSN 2020, Proceedings
EditorsThomas Bäck, Mike Preuss, André Deutz, Michael Emmerich, Hao Wang, Carola Doerr, Heike Trautmann
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages619-633
Number of pages15
ISBN (Print)9783030581145
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2020
Event16th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, PPSN 2020 - Leiden, Netherlands
Duration: 5 Sept 20209 Sept 2020

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume12270 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference16th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, PPSN 2020
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityLeiden
Period5/09/209/09/20

Keywords

  • Noisy optimization
  • Runtime analysis
  • Theory

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