An efficient algorithm for the smallest enclosing ball problem in high dimensions (Q2369067)

The authors study the problem of calculating the smallest enclosing ball of a set of \(m\) balls in \(\mathbb R^n\). The authors begin by introducing the problem via a formulation as a nonsmooth convex optimization problem using the classic definition. In the next section, a novel, smooth approximation for the nondifferentiable problem is derived and proven. The last part of the article focuses on algorithms to solve the new formulation of the problem. Two main algorithms are presented for this task, and their characteristics and convergence properties are studied. The paper concludes with preliminary computational results relating to the implementation of the proposed methodology and algorithm.