Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 326 / 3 / 5 / Solution

First use the usual Hilbert space convention for the proximal operator, identifying the dual element $z$ with its representing vector. For $c\ne 0$, completing the square givesSet $v=cx-y$ and multiply the objective by $c^2$. Its variable part becomes $\Vert v-[c(q-z)-y]{\Vert }^2/2+\alpha c^{2}J(v)$. Thus the proximal operator under affine rescaling isNegative $c$ is allowed. If $c=0$ and $J(-y)<\infty$, the penalty is constant and the answer is $q-z$. If $c=0$ and $J(-y)=\infty$, $E$ is identically infinite, so there is no proper proximal problem.

The PDF actually assumes an arbitrary Banach space, so the Hilbert input shift cannot be asserted literally under its hypotheses. Define ${\mathrm{Prox}}_F(s)=\arg {\min }_v\{F(v)+\Vert v-s{\Vert }^2/2\}$ as a possibly empty or set-valued minimizer set. Absolute homogeneity of the norm still gives the valid change of variablesThis retains the linear term, rather than shifting by a dual vector. Equivalently its optimality condition uses the duality mapping $\mathcal{J}=\partial (\Vert \cdot {\Vert }^2/2)$:For a concrete failure of the Hilbert shortcut, take $({\mathbb{R}}^2,\Vert \cdot {\Vert }_1)$, $J=0$, $q=y=0$, $c=1$ and $z=(1,1)$. Every $x_1,x_2\le 0$ with $x_1+x_2=-1$ minimizes $\Vert x{\Vert }_1^2/2+x_1+x_2$ with value $-1/2$. The naive shifted answer $(-1,-1)$ has value zero and is not a minimizer. Hence the simple shifted formula requires Hilbert geometry; general Banach proximal minimizers need not be unique. For $c=0$ with finite constant penalty the Banach condition is $-z\in \mathcal{J}(x-q)$, not generally $x=q-z$.