Revisit First-order Methods for Geodesically Convex Optimization

In a seminal work of Zhang and Sra, gradient descent methods for geodesically convex optimization were comprehensively studied. In particular, Zhang and Sra derived a comparison inequality that relates the iterative points in the optimization process. Since their seminal work, numerous follow-ups have studied different downstream usages of their comparison lemma. In this work, we introduce the concept of quasilinearization to optimization, presenting a novel framework for analyzing geodesically convex optimization. By leveraging this technique, we establish state-of-the-art convergence rates – for both deterministic and stochastic settings – under weaker assumptions than previously required. The technique of quasilinearization may prove valuable for other non-Euclidean optimization problems.