A note on the convergence guarantees of RLT-based algorithms for polynomial optimization

Abstract

This paper identifies and addresses a mathematical oversight in one of the foundational results on the Reformulation-Linearization Technique (RLT) for polynomial optimization. We then argue that, although correctness of the original result can be easily recovered by adding a minor and natural assumption, not being aware of this nuance may lead to the loss of convergence guarantees in RLT-based algorithms.