Stochastic Local Search Techniques with Unimodal Continuous Distributions: A Survey

In continuous black-box optimization, various stochastic local search techniques are often employed, with various remedies for fighting the premature convergence. This paper surveys recent developments in the field (the most important from the author's perspective), analyzes the differences and similarities and proposes a taxonomy of these methods. Based on this taxonomy, a variety of novel, previously unexplored, and potentially promising techniques may be envisioned.

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