Computational advances in polynomial optimization: RAPOSa, a freely available global solver

In this paper we introduce RAPOSa, a global optimization solver specifically designed for (continuous) polynomial programming problems with box-constrained variables. Written entirely in C++, RAPOSa is based on the Reformulation-Linearization (Sherali and Tuncbilek in J Glob Optim 103:225–249, 1992). We present a description of the main characteristics of RAPOSa along with a thorough analysis of the impact on its performance of various enhancements discussed in the literature, such as bound tightening and SDP cuts. We also present a comparative study with three of the main state-of-the-art global optimization solvers: BARON, Couenne and SCIP.