Prox-Regularity of Rank Constraint Sets and Implications for Algorithms
We present an analysis of sets of matrices with rank less than or equal to a specified number s. We provide a simple formula for the normal cone to such sets, and use this to show that these sets are prox-regular at all points with rank exactly equal tos. The normal cone formula appears to be new. This allows for easy application of prior results guaranteeing local linear convergence of the fundamental alternating projection algorithm between sets, one of which is a rank constraint set. We apply this to show local linear convergence of another fundamental algorithm, approximate steepest descent. Our results apply not only to linear systems with rank constraints, as has been treated extensively in the literature, but also nonconvex systems with rank constraints.
prox-regular rank constraint normal cone linear convergence rank optimization sparsity constraint qualification projection operator method of alternating projections superregularity