The minimal cone for conic linear programming

It is known that the minimal cone for the constraint system of a conic linear programming problem is a key component in obtaining strong duality without any constraint qualification. For problems in either primal or dual form, the minimal cone can be written down explicitly in terms of the problem data. However, due to possible lack of closure, explicit expressions for the dual cone of the minimal cone cannot be obtained in general. In the particular case of semidefinite programming, an explicit expression for the dual cone of the minimal cone allows for a dual program of polynomial size that satisfies strong duality. In this paper we develop a recursive procedure to obtain the minimal cone and its dual cone. In particular, for conic problems with so-called nice cones, we obtain explicit expressions for the cones involved in the dual recursive procedure. As an example of this approach, the well-known duals that satisfy strong duality for semidefinite programming problems are obtained. The relation between this approach and a facial reduction algorithm is also discussed.