Nonlinear estimation for linear inverse problems with error in the operator

We study two nonlinear methods for statistical linear inverse problems when the operator is not known. The two constructions combine Galerkin regularization and wavelet thresholding. Their performances depend on the underlying structure of the operator, quantified by an index of sparsity. We prove their rate-optimality and adaptivity properties over Besov classes.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053607000000721 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

On stable reconstructions from nonuniform Fourier measurements

We consider the problem of recovering a compactly-supported function from a finite collection of pointwise samples of its Fourier transform taking nonuniformly. First, we show that under suitable conditions on the sampling frequencies - specifically, their density and bandwidth - it is possible to recover any such function $f$ in a stable and accurate manner in any given finite-dimensional subspace; in particular, one which is well suited for approximating $f$. In practice, this is carried out using so-called nonuniform generalized sampling (NUGS). Second, we consider approximation spaces in one dimension consisting of compactly supported wavelets. We prove that a linear scaling of the dimension of the space with the sampling bandwidth is both necessary and sufficient for stable and accurate recovery. Thus wavelets are up to constant factors optimal spaces for reconstruction

Minimax estimation of smooth optimal transport maps

Brenier's theorem is a cornerstone of optimal transport that guarantees the existence of an optimal transport map $T$ between two probability distributions $P$ and $Q$ over $\mathbb{R}^d$ under certain regularity conditions. The main goal of this work is to establish the minimax estimation rates for such a transport map from data sampled from $P$ and $Q$ under additional smoothness assumptions on $T$. To achieve this goal, we develop an estimator based on the minimization of an empirical version of the semi-dual optimal transport problem, restricted to truncated wavelet expansions. This estimator is shown to achieve near minimax optimality using new stability arguments for the semi-dual and a complementary minimax lower bound. Furthermore, we provide numerical experiments on synthetic data supporting our theoretical findings and highlighting the practical benefits of smoothness regularization. These are the first minimax estimation rates for transport maps in general dimension.Comment: 53 pages, 6 figure