Sectional curvatures in nonlinear optimization (Q2481104)

Let \(M[h]=\{ x\in\mathbb R^n: h_j(x)=0\), \(j=1,\dots,n-k \}\), where \(k>0\), \(h_j \in C^2\) \((j=1, \dots,n-k)\). Suppose that the Jacobian matrix \(Jh(x)\) of \(h\) at \(x\) is of rank \(n-k\) for all \(x \in M[h]\). The author gives an explicit expression for the sectional curvature \(K_{M[h]}(x_0,w_1,w_2)\) of the manifold \(M[h]\) at a point \(x_0 \in M[h]\) along the section defined by an arbitrary orthonormal pair \(\{ w_1, w_2 \}\) of vectors in the tangent space \(TM[h](x_0)\). The problem of the minimization of the value \(K_{M[h]}(x_0,w_1,w_2)\) at a given point \(x_0\) is also analyzed.