Topological Saddle-Bypass Resolution of the Polynomial Sum-of-Squares Gap: Exact-Zero Global Optimality for Higher-Order Tensor Regularization in Arbitrary Dimensions
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The gap between polynomial nonnegativity and Sum-of-Squares (SoS) representations has stood since David Hilbert's 1888 treatise as a fundamental barrier across continuous optimization. Recently, Coralia Cartis and Wenqi Zhu (Oxford, arXiv:2601.20418, 21st Leslie Fox Prize in Numerical Analysis) proved that sufficiently regularized quartic Taylor models become Sum-of-Squares, bridging the local nonnegativity gap. However, certifying these models traditionally requires solving Semidefinite Programs (SDP) via the Lasserre hierarchy, where the Gram matrix dimension M = (n+2)(n+1)/2 incurs an intractable O(n^6) time complexity and O(n^4) memory explosion, causing computational exhaustion on HPC clusters for n >= 100. Within the H3QM framework, we demonstrate that this bottleneck is an artifact of unconstrained Cartesian coordinates. By mapping coordinates onto the compact sphere product S^{n-1} x R_+, we achieve an exact Hodge-Helmholtz parity decoupling between the isotropic confining field and the anisotropic 3rd-order derivative tensor. Lifting the potential to a 4D topological saddle bypass yields the exact closed-form analytical critical regularization threshold sigma_crit = (2/3) ||T||_op. For all sigma >= sigma_crit, sublevel sets become strictly convex topological balls, vanishing all obstruction cohomology groups and guaranteeing exact SoS decomposition without solving any SDP. Furthermore, we replace floating-point matrix factorizations with a first-order ternary discrete sign flow contracting on an octal grid (kappa = 1/8). In accordance with the Dyadic Octree Contraction and Machine Epsilon Saturation Theorem (2^-3)^8 = 2^-24 = eps_float32, the global minimizer is locked in 2 to 8 iterations with Exact 0 Residual in under 0.5 ms across dimensions n in [1, 1000], achieving a > 10^8x speedup. This theoretical breakthrough directly powers deep learning loss landscape convexification, non-convex AC Optimal Power Flow (AC-OPF) with zero duality gap, false-minima-free quantum molecular docking, and real-time (>1000 Hz) robotic Control Barrier Function certification.
Author: Chou, Cosmo
Language: English
Subfield: Numerical Analysis
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225586110