This stronger source condition in variational regularization requires a subgradient at . For each it is equivalent to making minimize for artificial input . The subgradient optimality condition proves both implications. The source vector may be zero: and satisfy the condition but admit no nonzero source vector.
Assume the displayed variational minimizer exists and is bounded and linear. The smooth data-fidelity term and the subdifferential sum rule give
Use the supplied source condition in variational regularization . Put and , so . By the symmetric Bregman distance identity,
Dropping the last square and using proves the source-condition estimate for symmetric Bregman distance:
The source condition also makes a -minimizing exact solution: for , its subgradient inequality has zero pairing with . Existence of is not implied by properness and lower semicontinuity alone; it is a hypothesis when no coercivity/compactness condition is provided.
The source condition in variational regularization at an exact solution is the existence of a source element such that
For a Hilbert data space one identifies with . If satisfies and , then every other exact solution obeys the subgradient inequality
Hence is a J-minimizing solution. This is source-condition certification of a penalty-minimizing solution.
A -minimizing solution is an exact solution satisfying
The source condition in variational regularization says that some satisfies
where is the subdifferential.
Fix . The subgradient optimality condition for
at is
If the source condition holds, choose . Since , the displayed inclusion holds. Because the objective is a convex function, this condition is necessary and sufficient for global minimality.
Conversely, if the stated range condition holds for some , optimality supplies with
Thus , which is precisely the source condition. This proves the equivalence.
An element is a -minimizing solution when
It satisfies the source condition in variational regularization when there is a such that
where is the subdifferential of the convex functional .
The exact solution is feasible because
The feasible set is convex and weakly closed. A minimizing sequence has bounded residual and bounded ; the coercivity assumption from part (a), applied to a fixed positive weighted objective, makes it bounded in . Reflexivity gives a weakly convergent subsequence, and weak lower semicontinuity of the residual and keeps its limit feasible and minimizing.
Since minimizes over ,
The source condition in variational regularization and feasibility then yield
Thus the claimed constant is .
Let be a bounded linear operator from a real Banach space to a real Hilbert space, let be a proper lower-semicontinuous convex function, and let and . For an existing minimizer of and a source condition in variational regularization , let and . Its optimality subgradient is . Then . The displayed estimate follows from .
Source condition for quadratic regularization Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
This range condition puts the exact solution in the operator range of the adjoint operator. It controls the small-singular value components of the solution and supplies convergence rates for spectral regularization methods. It is the quadratic-penalty case of a source condition in variational regularization.