Unconstrained minimization approaches to nonlinear complementarity problems

The nonlinear complementarity problem can be reformulated as unconstrained minimization problems by introducing merit functions. Under some assumptions, the solution set of the nonlinear complementarity problem coincides with the set of local minima of the corresponding minimization problem. These results were presented by Mangasarian and Solodov, Yamashita and Fukushima, and Geiger and Kanzow. In this note, we generalize some results of Mangasarian and Solodov, Yamashita and Fukushima, and Geiger and Kanzow to the case where the considered function is only directionally differentiable. Some results are strengthened in the smooth case. For example, it is shown that the strong monotonicity condition can be replaced by the P-uniform property for ensuring a stationary point of the reformulated unconstrained minimization problems to be a solution of the nonlinear complementarity problem. We also present a descent algorithm for solving the nonlinear complementarity problem in the smooth case. Any accumulation point generated by this algorithm is proved to be a solution of the nonlinear complementarity under the monotonicity condition.