Optimality properties of an Augmented Lagrangian method on infeasible problems

<Para ID="Par1">Sometimes, the feasible set of an optimization problem that one aims to solve using a Nonlinear Programming algorithm is empty. In this case, two characteristics of the algorithm are desirable. On the one hand, the algorithm should converge to a minimizer of some infeasibility measure. On the other hand, one may wish to find a point with minimal infeasibility for which some optimality condition, with respect to the objective function, holds. Ideally, the algorithm should converge to a minimizer of the objective function subject to minimal infeasibility. In this paper the behavior of an Augmented Lagrangian algorithm with respect to those properties will be studied. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015