First-order optimality conditions for non-commutative optimization problems

Abstract: We consider the problem of optimizing the state average of a polynomial of non-commuting variables, over all states and operators satisfying a number of polynomial constraints, and over all Hilbert spaces where such states and operators are defined. Such non-commutative polynomial optimization (NPO) problems are routinely solved through hierarchies of semidefinite programming (SDP) relaxations. By formulating the general NPO problem in Lagrangian terms, we heuristically derive first-order optimality conditions via small variations in the problem variables. Although the derivation is not rigorous, it gives rise to two types of optimality conditions - state and operator - which are rigorously analyzed in the paper. Both types of conditions can be enforced through additional positive semidefinite constraints in the SDP hierarchies. State optimality conditions are shown to be satisfied by all NPO problems. For NPO problems with optimal solutions (such as, e.g., Archimedean ones) they allow enforcing a new type of constraints: namely, restricting the optimization over states to the set of common ground states of an arbitrary number of operators. Operator optimality conditions are the non-commutative analogs of the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, which are known to hold in many classical optimization problems. In this regard, we prove that a weak form of operator optimality holds for all NPO problems; stronger versions require the problem constraints to satisfy some qualification criterion, just like in the classical case (e.g. Mangasarian-Fromovitz constraint qualification). We test the power of the new optimality conditions by computing local properties of ground states of many-body spin systems and the maximum quantum violation of Bell inequalities.