Superlinear convergence of an interior point algorithm on linear semi-definite feasibility problems

In the literature, besides the assumption of strict complementarity, superlinear convergence of implementable polynomial-time interior point algorithms using known search directions, namely, the HKM direction, its dual or the NT direction, to solve semi-definite programs (SDPs) is shown by (i) assuming that the given SDP is nondegenerate and making modifications to these algorithms [Kojima et al. Local convergence of predictor–corrector infeasible-interior-point algorithms for SDPs and SDLCPs, Math. Program. Ser. A 80 (1998), pp. 129–160], or (ii) considering special classes of SDPs, such as the class of linear semi-definite feasibility problems (LSDFPs) and requiring the initial iterate to the algorithm to satisfy certain conditions [Sim, Superlinear convergence of an infeasible predictor–corrector path-following interior point algorithm for a semidefinite linear complementarity problem using the Helmberg–Kojima–Monteiro direction, SIAM J. Optim. 21 (2011), pp. 102–126], [Sim, Interior point method on semi-definite linear complementarity problems using the Nesterov-Todd (NT) search direction: Polynomial complexity and local convergence, Comput. Optim. Appl. 74 (2019), pp. 583–621]. Otherwise, these algorithms are not easy to implement even though they are shown to have polynomial iteration complexities and superlinear convergence [Luo et al. Superlinear convergence of a symmetric primal–dual path following algorithm for semidefinite programming, SIAM J. Optim. 8 (1998), pp. 59–81]. The conditions in [Sim, Superlinear convergence of an infeasible predictor–corrector path-following interior point algorithm for a semidefinite linear complementarity problem using the Helmberg–Kojima–Monteiro direction, SIAM J. Optim. 21 (2011), pp. 102–126], [Sim, Interior point method on semi-definite linear complementarity problems using the Nesterov-Todd (NT) search direction: Polynomial complexity and local convergence, Comput. Optim. Appl. 74 (2019), pp. 583–621] that the initial iterate to the algorithm is required to satisfy to have superlinear convergence when solving LSDFPs however are not practical. In this paper, we propose a practical initial iterate to an implementable infeasible interior point algorithm that guarantees superlinear convergence when the algorithm is used to solve the homogeneous feasibility model of an LSDFP.