Abstract. We propose a convergence analysis of accelerated forward-backward splitting methods for composite function minimization, when the proximity operator is not available in closed form, and can only be computed up to a certain precision. We prove that the 1/k 2 convergence rate for the function values can be achieved if the admissible errors are of a certain type and satisfy a sufficiently fast decay condition. Our analysis is based on the machinery of estimate sequences first introduced by Nesterov for the study of accelerated gradient descent algorithms. Furthermore, we give a global complexity analysis, taking into account the cost of computing admissible approximations of the proximal point. An experimental analysis is also presented.

We study the variable metric forward-backward splitting algorithm for convex minimization problems without the standard assumption of the Lipschitz continuity of the gradient. In this setting, we prove that, by requiring only mild assumptions on the smooth part of the objective function and using several types of line search procedures for determining either the gradient descent stepsizes, or the relaxation parameters, one still obtains weak convergence of the iterates and convergence in the objective function values. Moreover, the o(1/k) convergence rate in the function values is obtained if slightly stronger differentiability assumptions are added. We also illustrate several applications including problems that involve Banach spaces and functions of divergence type.

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In many applications of finance, biology and sociology, complex systems involve entities interacting with each other. These processes have the peculiarity of evolving over time and of comprising latent factors, which influence the system without being explicitly measured. In this work we present latent variable time-varying graphical lasso (LTGL), a method for multivariate time-series graphical modelling that considers the influence of hidden or unmeasurable factors. The estimation of the contribution of the latent factors is embedded in the model which produces both sparse and low-rank components for each time point. In particular, the first component represents the connectivity structure of observable variables of the system, while the second represents the influence of hidden factors, assumed to be few with respect to the observed variables. Our model includes temporal consistency on both components, providing an accurate evolutionary pattern of the system. We derive a tractable optimisation algorithm based on alternating direction method of multipliers, and develop a scalable and efficient implementation which exploits proximity operators in closed form. LTGL is extensively validated on synthetic data, achieving optimal performance in terms of accuracy, structure learning and scalability with respect to ground truth and state-of-the-art methods for graphical inference. We conclude with the application of LTGL to real case studies, from biology and finance, to illustrate how our method can be successfully employed to gain insights on multivariate time-series data.

This paper proposes a unified framework for the investigation of constrained learning theory in reflexive Banach spaces of features via regularized empirical risk minimization. The focus is placed on Tikhonov-like regularization with totally convex functions. This broad class of regularizers provides a flexible model for various priors on the features, including in particular hard constraints and powers of Banach norms. In such context, the main results establish a new general form of the representer theorem and the consistency of the corresponding learning schemes under general conditions on the loss function, the geometry of the feature space, and the modulus of total convexity of the regularizer. In addition, the proposed analysis gives new insight into basic tools such as reproducing Banach spaces, feature maps, and universality. Even when specialized to Hilbert spaces, this framework yields new results that extend the state of the art.