Sparse Recovery for Orthogonal Polynomial Transforms
Pith reviewed 2026-05-24 19:16 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
The paper gives sublinear-time algorithms for sparse recovery under any orthogonal transform derived from Jacobi polynomials.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
We give sublinear-time algorithms---running in time poly(k log N)---for solving the sparse recovery problem for any orthogonal polynomial transform F derived from Jacobi polynomials, by first reducing the k-sparse problem to the 1-sparse problem for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform and then solving the 1-sparse instance for the Jacobi case.
What carries the argument
A general reduction from the k-sparse sparse recovery problem to the 1-sparse sparse recovery problem that holds for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform.
If this is right
- The result covers Chebyshev and Legendre transforms as special cases of Jacobi polynomials.
- Vectors whose support is chosen uniformly at random satisfy the needed structural property with high probability.
- The same reduction applies to any flat orthogonal polynomial transform, not just those from Jacobi polynomials.
- Recovery succeeds in an l2 sense and works for both exactly k-sparse and nearly k-sparse vectors.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- The reduction technique could be tested on other families of orthogonal polynomials to see whether it yields sublinear algorithms beyond the Jacobi case.
- Practical implementations for specific parameter choices of Jacobi polynomials would reveal whether the poly(k log N) bound is achievable in code.
- If the structural assumption on support can be relaxed or removed, the method would apply to arbitrary sparse vectors without probability caveats.
Load-bearing premise
The sparse vector must satisfy an assumption on the structure of its support.
What would settle it
Construct a k-sparse input vector whose support violates the required structural property, run the algorithm, and check whether recovery fails while still using only poly(k log N) queries.
Figures
read the original abstract
In this paper we consider the following sparse recovery problem. We have query access to a vector $\vx \in \R^N$ such that $\vhx = \vF \vx$ is $k$-sparse (or nearly $k$-sparse) for some orthogonal transform $\vF$. The goal is to output an approximation (in an $\ell_2$ sense) to $\vhx$ in sublinear time. This problem has been well-studied in the special case that $\vF$ is the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), and a long line of work has resulted in sparse Fast Fourier Transforms that run in time $O(k \cdot \mathrm{polylog} N)$. However, for transforms $\vF$ other than the DFT (or closely related transforms like the Discrete Cosine Transform), the question is much less settled. In this paper we give sublinear-time algorithms---running in time $\poly(k \log(N))$---for solving the sparse recovery problem for orthogonal transforms $\vF$ that arise from orthogonal polynomials. More precisely, our algorithm works for any $\vF$ that is an orthogonal polynomial transform derived from Jacobi polynomials. The Jacobi polynomials are a large class of classical orthogonal polynomials (and include Chebyshev and Legendre polynomials as special cases), and show up extensively in applications like numerical analysis and signal processing. One caveat of our work is that we require an assumption on the sparsity structure of the sparse vector, although we note that vectors with random support have this property with high probability. Our approach is to give a very general reduction from the $k$-sparse sparse recovery problem to the $1$-sparse sparse recovery problem that holds for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform; then we solve this one-sparse recovery problem for transforms derived from Jacobi polynomials.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper claims sublinear-time algorithms running in poly(k log N) time for sparse recovery under orthogonal transforms F derived from Jacobi polynomials (including Chebyshev and Legendre as special cases). It reduces the k-sparse (or nearly k-sparse) recovery problem to the 1-sparse case for any 'flat' orthogonal polynomial transform, then solves the 1-sparse case specifically for Jacobi-derived transforms. The result requires an assumption on the sparsity structure of the input vector (satisfied w.h.p. by random supports).
Significance. If the reduction and 1-sparse solver are rigorous and the poly(k log N) bound holds without hidden dependence on the assumption, the work would extend sparse FFT techniques beyond DFT/DCT to a broad class of transforms arising in numerical analysis and signal processing. The general reduction for flat transforms would be a reusable contribution.
major comments (2)
- [Abstract] Abstract and approach description: the assumption on sparsity structure is load-bearing for the central poly(k log N) claim, as the reduction from k-sparse to 1-sparse is stated to require it and the guarantee therefore does not apply to arbitrary supports (unlike standard sparse FFT results for the DFT). The exact formal statement of the assumption, where it is used in the reduction, and whether the runtime remains sublinear when the assumption fails must be specified.
- [Approach description] Approach description: the reduction is presented as holding for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform, yet the abstract provides only a high-level description with no error analysis, proof sketch, or verification that the composed algorithm achieves poly(k log N) time; without these details the soundness of the runtime bound cannot be assessed.
minor comments (1)
- [Abstract] Clarify the precise approximation guarantee (ℓ2 sense) for the nearly k-sparse case and how it interacts with the sparsity-structure assumption.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for the careful review and constructive feedback on clarifying the role of the sparsity assumption and strengthening the high-level description of the approach. We address the comments point by point below.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: [Abstract] Abstract and approach description: the assumption on sparsity structure is load-bearing for the central poly(k log N) claim, as the reduction from k-sparse to 1-sparse is stated to require it and the guarantee therefore does not apply to arbitrary supports (unlike standard sparse FFT results for the DFT). The exact formal statement of the assumption, where it is used in the reduction, and whether the runtime remains sublinear when the assumption fails must be specified.
Authors: We agree that the sparsity structure assumption is essential to the reduction and the claimed runtime. The assumption (formalized as the support being 'flat' with respect to the orthogonal polynomial basis, see Definition 2.1) is required for the k-sparse to 1-sparse reduction in Theorem 3.1 and is used throughout Section 3. The sublinear runtime guarantee does not hold for arbitrary supports that violate the assumption. We will revise the abstract to state the assumption formally, indicate its use in the reduction, and explicitly note that the poly(k log N) bound applies only when the assumption holds (while random supports satisfy it w.h.p., as already mentioned). revision: yes
-
Referee: [Approach description] Approach description: the reduction is presented as holding for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform, yet the abstract provides only a high-level description with no error analysis, proof sketch, or verification that the composed algorithm achieves poly(k log N) time; without these details the soundness of the runtime bound cannot be assessed.
Authors: The full manuscript provides the reduction for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform in Section 3 (including error analysis via the flatness property) and composes it with the Jacobi-specific 1-sparse solver in Section 4 to obtain the poly(k log N) bound. To address the concern about the abstract, we will add a concise proof sketch and reference to the key runtime theorem (Theorem 4.3) in the introduction, along with a brief mention of the error propagation in the abstract. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No circularity; derivation is constructive and self-contained
full rationale
The paper explicitly states an assumption on sparsity structure (random supports satisfy it w.h.p.) and presents a general reduction from k-sparse to 1-sparse recovery for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform, followed by a specific 1-sparse solver for Jacobi polynomials. No self-definitional steps, fitted inputs renamed as predictions, load-bearing self-citations, or ansatzes smuggled via prior work appear. The result is an algorithmic construction with stated limitations, not a closed loop reducing to its own inputs by definition. This matches the default case of a non-circular paper.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
axioms (1)
- domain assumption Orthogonal polynomial transforms derived from Jacobi polynomials admit a flatness property enabling reduction from k-sparse to 1-sparse recovery
Lean theorems connected to this paper
-
IndisputableMonolith/Foundation/AlexanderDuality.leanalexander_duality_circle_linking unclear?
unclearRelation between the paper passage and the cited Recognition theorem.
Our approach is to give a very general reduction from the k-sparse sparse recovery problem to the 1-sparse sparse recovery problem that holds for any flat orthogonal polynomial transform; then we solve this one-sparse recovery problem for transforms derived from Jacobi polynomials.
-
IndisputableMonolith/Cost/FunctionalEquation.leanwashburn_uniqueness_aczel unclear?
unclearRelation between the paper passage and the cited Recognition theorem.
we require an assumption on the sparsity structure of the sparse vector, although we note that vectors with random support have this property with high probability.
What do these tags mean?
- matches
- The paper's claim is directly supported by a theorem in the formal canon.
- supports
- The theorem supports part of the paper's argument, but the paper may add assumptions or extra steps.
- extends
- The paper goes beyond the formal theorem; the theorem is a base layer rather than the whole result.
- uses
- The paper appears to rely on the theorem as machinery.
- contradicts
- The paper's claim conflicts with a theorem or certificate in the canon.
- unclear
- Pith found a possible connection, but the passage is too broad, indirect, or ambiguous to say the theorem truly supports the claim.
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobi_polynomials#Differential_equation
-
[2]
http://www.chebfun.org
-
[3]
B/suppress lasiok, J., Lopatto, P., Luh, K., and Marcinek, J.Sparse Reconstruction from Hadamard Matrices: A Lower Bound. arXiv 1903.12135 (2019)
-
[4]
An Improved Estimate in the Restricted Isometry Problem
Bourgain, J. An Improved Estimate in the Restricted Isometry Problem . Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2014, pp. 65–70
work page 2014
-
[5]
Fast Algorithms for the Multi-dimensional Jacobi Polynomial Transform
Bremer, J., Pang, Q., and Yang, H. Fast Algorithms for the Multi-dimensional Jacobi Polynomial Transform. arXiv e-prints (Jan 2019), arXiv:1901.07275
-
[6]
Fast algorithms for Jacobi expansions via nonoscillatory phase functions
Bremer, J., and Yang, H. Fast algorithms for Jacobi expansions via nonoscillatory phase fun ctions. arXiv e-prints (Mar 2018), arXiv:1803.03889
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv 2018
-
[7]
Choi, B., Iwen, M., and Krahmer, F. Sparse Harmonic Transforms: A New Class of Sublinear-time Algorithms for Learning Functions of Many Variables. arXiv 1808.04932 (2018)
-
[8]
Cook, J. D. Orthogonal polynomials and gaussian quadrature. https://www.johndcook.com/OrthogonalPolynomials.pdf. 15This assumes computing the arccos values takes O(1) time. 49
-
[9]
Dao, T., De Sa, C. M., and R ´ e, C. Gaussian quadrature for kernel features. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 30 , I. Guyon, U. V. Luxburg, S. Bengio, H. Wallach, R. Fergus, S. Vishwanathan, and R. Garnett, Eds. Curran Associates, Inc., 2017, pp. 6107–6117
work page 2017
-
[10]
Driscoll, J. R., Healy, Jr., D. M., and Rockmore, D. N. Fast discrete polynomial transforms with applications to data analysis for distance transitive graphs. SIAM J. Comput. 26 , 4 (Aug. 1997), 1066–1099
work page 1997
-
[11]
A Mathematical Introduction to Compressive Sensing
Foucart, S., and Rauhut, H. A Mathematical Introduction to Compressive Sensing . Springer Science & Business Media, August 2013
work page 2013
-
[12]
C., Guha, S., Indyk, P., Muthukrishnan, S., and S trauss, M
Gilbert, A. C., Guha, S., Indyk, P., Muthukrishnan, S., and S trauss, M. Near-optimal sparse fourier representations via sampling. In Proceedings of the Thiry-fourth Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (New York, NY, USA, 2002), STOC ’02, ACM, pp. 152–161
work page 2002
-
[13]
C., Indyk, P., Iwen, M., and Schmidt, L
Gilbert, A. C., Indyk, P., Iwen, M., and Schmidt, L. Recent Developments in the Sparse Fourier Transform. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine (2014)
work page 2014
-
[14]
Nearly optimal sparse fourier transform
Hassanieh, H., Indyk, P., Katabi, D., and Price, E. Nearly optimal sparse fourier transform. In Proceedings of the forty-fourth annual ACM symposium on The ory of computing (2012), ACM, pp. 563– 578
work page 2012
-
[15]
Rapidly computing sparse legendre expansions via sparse fourier transforms
Hu, X., Iwen, M., and Kim, H. Rapidly computing sparse legendre expansions via sparse fourier transforms. Numerical Algorithms 74 , 4 (2017)
work page 2017
-
[16]
Hua, Y., and Sarkar, T. K. Matrix pencil method for estimating parameters of exponentially damped/undamped sinusoids in noise. IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Process ing 38, 5 (May 1990), 814–824
work page 1990
-
[17]
Sample-optimal fourier sampling in any constant dimension
Indyk, P., and Kapralov, M. Sample-optimal fourier sampling in any constant dimension. In 2014 IEEE 55th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Scien ce (2014), IEEE, pp. 514–523
work page 2014
-
[18]
(nearly) sample-optimal sparse fourier transform
Indyk, P., Kapralov, M., and Price, E. (nearly) sample-optimal sparse fourier transform. In Proceedings of the twenty-fifth annual ACM-SIAM symposium o n Discrete algorithms (2014), Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, pp. 480–499
work page 2014
-
[19]
Ismail, M. E. H., and Muldoon, M. E. Bounds for the small real and purely imaginary zeros of bessel and related functions. Methods and Applications of Analysis 2 , 1 (1995)
work page 1995
-
[20]
Dimension-independent sparse fourier transform
Kapralov, M., Velingker, A., and Zandieh, A. Dimension-independent sparse fourier transform. In Proceedings of the Thirtieth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on D iscrete Algorithms, SODA 2019, San Diego, California, USA, January 6-9, 2019 (2019), pp. 2709–2728
work page 2019
-
[21]
Musco, C. Chebyshev polynomials in tcs and algorithm design.http://www.cameronmusco.com/personal_site/pdfs/retreatTalk.pdf
-
[22]
A generalized prony method for reconstruction of sparse sums of eigenfunctions of linear operators
Peter, T., and Plonka, G. A generalized prony method for reconstruction of sparse sums of eigenfunctions of linear operators. Inverse Problems 29 , 2 (jan 2013), 025001
work page 2013
-
[23]
Parameter estimation for exponential sums by approximate prony method
Potts, D., and Tasche, M. Parameter estimation for exponential sums by approximate prony method. Signal Processing 90 , 5 (2010), 1631 – 1642. Special Section on Statistical Signal and A rray Processing
work page 2010
-
[24]
Reconstruction of sparse legendre and gegenbauer expansions
Potts, D., and Tasche, M. Reconstruction of sparse legendre and gegenbauer expansions. BIT Numerical Mathematics 56 , 3 (2016), 1019–1043
work page 2016
-
[25]
Improved Lower Bounds for the Restricted Isometry Property of Subsampled Fourier Matrices
Rao, S. Improved Lower Bounds for the Restricted Isometry Property o f Subsampled Fourier Matrices. arXiv 1903.12146 (2019). 50
work page internal anchor Pith review Pith/arXiv arXiv 1903
-
[26]
Sparse legendre expansions via ℓ1-minimization
Rauhut, H., and W ard, R. Sparse legendre expansions via ℓ1-minimization. J. Approx. Theory 164 , 5 (May 2012), 517–533
work page 2012
-
[27]
An Introduction to the Approximation of Functions
Rivlin, T. An Introduction to the Approximation of Functions . Blaisdell book in numerical analysis and computer science. Dover Publications, 1981
work page 1981
-
[28]
On sparse reconstruction from fourier and gaussian measure- ments
Rudelson, M., and Vershynin, R. On sparse reconstruction from fourier and gaussian measure- ments. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 61 , 8 (2008), 1025–1045
work page 2008
-
[29]
Another proof for Jackson theorem
Shen, W., and Zikatanov, L. Another proof for Jackson theorem. http://personal.psu.edu/wxs27/524/JacksonNotes.pdf
-
[30]
Szeg¨o, G. Orthogonal Polynomials. No. v. 23 in American Mathematical Society colloquium publica- tions. American Mathematical Society, 1975
work page 1975
-
[31]
Tango, W. J. The circle polynomials of zernike and their application in optics. Applied physics 13 , 4 (Aug 1977), 327–332
work page 1977
-
[32]
Yu, K.-H., Zhang, C., Berry, G. J., Altman, R. B., R ´ e, C., Rubin, D. L., and Snyder, M. Predicting non-small cell lung cancer prognosis by fully automated m icroscopic pathology image features. Nature Communications 7 (2016). A Chebyshev Reduction to sparse FFT For completeness, in this section we show how to solve the sparse ap proximation problem for...
work page 2016
-
[33]
Then ˆy[j] = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 y[ℓ]ω jℓ = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ− s]ω j(ℓ− s)ω js = ω js ˆx[j]
Shifting x scales ˆx elementwise, and vice versa: Consider x∈ CN and y such that y[ℓ] = x[ℓ− s] for all ℓ∈ [N ]. Then ˆy[j] = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 y[ℓ]ω jℓ = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ− s]ω j(ℓ− s)ω js = ω js ˆx[j]. If y[ℓ] = x[ℓ]ω ℓs, then ˆy[j] = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 y[ℓ]ω jℓ = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ]ω (j+s)ℓ = ˆx[j + s]
-
[34]
51 ˆx[j] = ∑ ℓ even x[ℓ]ω jℓ N = N/ 2− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[2ℓ]ω jℓ N/ 2 for j = 0,
If x is supported only on the first half, then the even indices of ˆx can be computed by a DFT of half the size, and vice versa: ˆx[2j] = N/ 2− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ]ω 2jℓ N = N/ 2− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ]ω jℓ N/ 2. 51 ˆx[j] = ∑ ℓ even x[ℓ]ω jℓ N = N/ 2− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[2ℓ]ω jℓ N/ 2 for j = 0, . . . , N/ 2− 1
-
[35]
x is symmetric ( x[i] = x[− i]) if and only if ˆx is symmetric. ˆx[j] = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[ℓ]ω jℓ = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 x[− ℓ]ω jℓ = N− 1∑ k=0 x[ℓ]ω− jℓ = ˆx[− j] A.2 Sparse DCT Setup Consider the Chebyshev transform ˆc =Cc ˆc[j] = N− 1∑ ℓ=0 c[ℓ]Tℓ(λ j) (64) where λ j = cos ( π 2j+1 2n ) are the Chebyshev nodes. Note that Tℓ(λ j) = cos ( π 2N ℓ(2j + 1) ) by properties of ...
-
[36]
First observe that most roots of Jacobi polynomials are close en ough to the roots of the Chebyshev polynomials. In particular, by a tighter version of Theorem 5.2 for the special case of − 1/ 2≤ α, β ≤ 1/ 2, we know that the ℓth root is given by cos θℓ, where θℓ = (ℓ+˜ℓ)π N + α +β +1 2 , for some 0 < ˜ℓ < 1 (Theorem 6.3.2 in [31]). So at least for the mo...
-
[37]
Like in Section 5, we just try and do some “error-correction” to obtain cosine eva luations at regular points. Indeed, this is what the trick of cos A = cos(A+B)+cos(A− B) 2 cos B for random B helped us do for the special case of k = 1. However, this approach fails even for k = 2 since we no longer have ‘common terms’ that cancel like they did in proof of...
-
[38]
and ( 70) implies that for every i, j ∈ [N ], ⏐ ⏐eT i BT Bej− δi,j ⏐ ⏐≤ 2δ′, which completes the proof (since ( BT B ) [i, j ] = eT i BT Bej). D More on Jacobi polynomials We begin by collecting more results on Jacobi polynomials and more gen erally orthogonal polynomials in Appendices D.1 and D.2 respectively. Finally, we prove Theorem 5.8 in Appendix D....
-
[39]
is equation (1.71.7) in [ 31]. Further, ( 74) follows by combining ( 73) and ( 71). In the rest of the proof, we argue ( 72) and ( 73). We begin with ( 73). We will argue that there is a large enough ν0 (that depends on C0) for which there is a constant γ0 (such that|γ0|< 1) with the following property. For every ν≥ ν0, we have that |bν|≤ (γ0)ν , (75) 16T...
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.