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Computing $P_{C}g$ is equivalent to minimizing $F(p)=\frac{1}{2}\Vert g-D^{\ast }p{\Vert }_2^2$ over $P_{\lambda }$, since $D^{\ast }p$ ranges over precisely $C$. Differentiating with the adjoint operator gives $\nabla F(p)=D(D^{\ast }p-g)$, whose Lipschitz constant is $L=\Vert D{D}^{\ast }\Vert =\Vert D{\Vert }^2$. Starting with any $p^0\in P_{\lambda }$, for example zero, the projected-gradient dual total variation algorithm isThe block formula is the Euclidean projection onto a convex set $P_{\lambda }$, since it clips each two-dimensional block to a Euclidean ball of radius $\lambda$. Both components must be clipped together for the isotropic block mixed norm.

For the unscaled forward differences, $\Vert D_x^{+}u{\Vert }_2^2\le 4\Vert u{\Vert }_2^2$ and likewise in the other direction, so $L\le 8$. More exactly, for $N>1$ the one-dimensional path difference has eigenvalues $4{\sin }^2(k\pi /(2N))$, $0\le k<N$, and the square-grid operator sums two such spectra. Thus $L=8{\cos }^2(\pi /(2N))$. Finite-dimensional projected gradient descent for a convex objective with an $L$-Lipschitz gradient converges from every feasible starting point to a dual minimizer for fixed $0<\tau <2/L$. The theorem assumes a nonempty closed convex set, a convex differentiable objective with globally Lipschitz gradient, and a nonempty minimizer set. All hold here: $P_{\lambda }$ is compact and convex, and $F$ is a continuous convex quadratic. Finite-dimensional convergence is of the full sequence, rather than only its objective values.

Consequently any fixed step with $0<\tau <1/4$ is safe on this grid; the more conservative $0<\tau \le 1/8$ is also safe. The dual minimizer need not be unique because $D^{\ast }$ has a null space, but $D^{\ast }{p}^k\to P_{C}g$ and $u^k\to u$ uniquely. For $N=1$, the gradient penalty vanishes and $u=g$, so no positive-$L$ step restriction is needed.