REVIEW 2 major objections 2 minor 1 cited by
Basis pursuit by inconsistent alternating projections
T0 review · 2 major / 2 minor · reviewed 2026-05-18 · grok-4.3
Pith's one-line read Basis pursuit is solved by alternating projections on deliberately inconsistent subproblems that converge linearly.
desk verdict The paper applies the authors' prior inconsistency trick to basis pursuit via deliberately disjoint subproblems and claims linear convergence, but the key error bound lacks an explicit positive lower bound. read the letter →
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
The reading
What carries the argument
The inconsistent alternating projections scheme, with subproblems deliberately constructed to have disjoint feasible sets.
What would settle it
A numerical run on an instance with unique solution in which the observed convergence rate of the radii or iterates deviates from the linear rate predicted by the error bound.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
By enforcing inconsistency in alternating projections subproblems for the ℓ1-minimization form of basis pursuit, the ℓ1-radii converge linearly to the optimal value, and when the solution is unique, all generated sequences converge linearly to it at a rate governed by a natural error bound between the feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball.
Load-bearing premise
Subproblems can be constructed with disjoint feasible sets by design, and a natural error bound exists between the feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- The ℓ1-radii converge linearly to the optimal value.
- When the solution is unique, the generated sequences converge linearly to the solution.
- The convergence rate is controlled by the natural error bound between the feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball.
- The method is numerically competitive against state-of-the-art open-source solvers on synthetic and real-world instances.
Reading between the lines
- The deliberate inconsistency technique might accelerate projection methods on other convex problems that are usually solved via linear programming reformulations.
- Implementation on large-scale compressed sensing instances could show whether the linear rate translates into practical speed gains over interior-point or first-order LP solvers.
- The error-bound analysis may extend to related sparse recovery formulations with additional convex constraints.
Signed reviews
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper proposes solving basis pursuit (minimum ℓ1-norm solution to Ax=b) via alternating projections applied to a sequence of deliberately inconsistent subproblems whose feasible sets are constructed to be disjoint. It claims to prove that the generated ℓ1-radii converge linearly to the optimal value, and that when the solution is unique all iterates converge linearly to it at a rate controlled by a natural error bound between each feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball. Numerical tests indicate competitiveness with state-of-the-art open-source LP solvers on synthetic and real instances.
Significance. If the linear-convergence claims can be placed on a fully rigorous footing with an explicit, instance-independent positive lower bound on the governing error-bound constant, the work would supply a projection-based alternative to LP reformulations of basis pursuit and would illustrate a concrete use of inconsistency-driven acceleration for a canonical sparse-recovery problem.
major comments (2)
- [§4 (Convergence Analysis)] §4 (Convergence Analysis), main theorem on linear rates: the linear convergence of both radii and (unique-solution) iterates is asserted to follow from a 'natural error bound' between the constructed feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball, yet no explicit positive lower bound on this constant is derived in terms of A, b or the current radius. Without such a bound the claimed uniform linear rate is not guaranteed and the central convergence result remains conditional on an unverified assumption.
- [§3 (Subproblem construction)] §3 (Subproblem construction): the manuscript states that the subproblems are designed so their feasible sets are disjoint 'by construction,' but does not supply a self-contained verification that this design preserves equivalence to the original basis-pursuit problem and does not inadvertently make the error-bound constant vanish for feasible (A,b) pairs.
minor comments (2)
- [§2] The phrase 'natural error bound' is used repeatedly before it is formally defined; a precise definition (with reference to the relevant distance or Hoffman-type constant) should appear in §2.
- [Numerical Experiments] Numerical section: the choice of the inconsistency parameter and the stopping tolerance for the inner alternating-projection loops should be stated explicitly to permit exact reproduction of the reported timings and iteration counts.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for the careful reading and constructive feedback on our manuscript. The comments help clarify the presentation of the convergence results and the subproblem design. We address each major comment below and indicate the revisions we will make.
read point-by-point responses
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Referee: [§4 (Convergence Analysis)] §4 (Convergence Analysis), main theorem on linear rates: the linear convergence of both radii and (unique-solution) iterates is asserted to follow from a 'natural error bound' between the constructed feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball, yet no explicit positive lower bound on this constant is derived in terms of A, b or the current radius. Without such a bound the claimed uniform linear rate is not guaranteed and the central convergence result remains conditional on an unverified assumption.
Authors: The manuscript does not assert a uniform linear rate that is independent of the instance. Theorem 4.1 establishes linear convergence of the radii to the optimal value and, under uniqueness, linear convergence of the iterates, with the rate governed by the natural error-bound constant between each constructed feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball. This constant is strictly positive for any fixed feasible pair (A, b) possessing a unique solution, because the deliberate inconsistency in the subproblem construction ensures a positive separation that is preserved by the equivalence to basis pursuit. We will revise the statement of the main theorem and add a short remark after the proof to make explicit that positivity follows from uniqueness and the construction; we will also note that the resulting rate is necessarily instance-dependent. Deriving a closed-form, instance-independent lower bound on the constant is not feasible in general and is not claimed in the paper. revision: partial
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Referee: [§3 (Subproblem construction)] §3 (Subproblem construction): the manuscript states that the subproblems are designed so their feasible sets are disjoint 'by construction,' but does not supply a self-contained verification that this design preserves equivalence to the original basis-pursuit problem and does not inadvertently make the error-bound constant vanish for feasible (A,b) pairs.
Authors: We agree that an explicit verification strengthens the exposition. In the revised manuscript we will insert a short proposition in §3 that (i) confirms the sequence of inconsistent subproblems is equivalent to the original basis-pursuit problem in the sense that the optimal value is recovered in the limit and (ii) shows that the enforced disjointness does not force the error-bound constant to zero for any feasible (A, b). The argument relies on the fact that the radii are monotonically nonincreasing and bounded below by the optimal ℓ1-norm, together with the uniqueness assumption guaranteeing a positive distance between the constructed sets and the optimal ball. revision: yes
- Supplying an explicit instance-independent positive lower bound on the governing error-bound constant (the referee's request for a uniform rate guarantee across all instances).
Circularity Check
Linear convergence rate governed by self-cited natural error bound
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self citation load bearing
[Abstract]
"Recently in [R. Behling, Y. Bello-Cruz and L.-R. Santos, SIAM J. Optim., 31 (2021), pp. 2863-2892], inconsistency coming from infeasibility has been shown to accelerate convergence of alternating projections. We deliberately enforce this inconsistency by constructing subproblems whose feasible sets are disjoint by design. We prove that the resulting ℓ1-radii converge linearly to the optimal value, and that when the solution is unique, all generated sequences converge linearly to it at a rate governed by a natural error bound between the feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball."
The linear rate for both radii and sequences is explicitly stated to be governed by the natural error bound, whose acceleration property and applicability are justified solely by citation to the authors' overlapping prior work rather than by an independent derivation or explicit lower bound on the constant within this manuscript.
full rationale
The paper's central convergence result for ℓ1-radii and iterates invokes a natural error bound between the feasible set and optimal ℓ1-ball, with the inconsistency-acceleration property imported directly from the authors' own 2021 SIAM J. Optim. paper. This creates moderate dependence on prior self-work for the rate analysis, even though the specific subproblem construction for basis pursuit is new and the manuscript supplies its own proof structure around the bound. No self-definitional reductions, fitted predictions, or ansatz smuggling appear in the given text; the derivation remains partially independent.
Assumptions & free parameters
assumptions (2)
- domain assumption A natural error bound exists between the feasible set and the optimal ℓ1-ball that controls the linear convergence rate.
- domain assumption Subproblems can be constructed whose feasible sets are disjoint by design.
Cite this review
Pith. "Pith review of Basis pursuit by inconsistent alternating projections." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/2508.15026
@misc{pith2026250815026,
author = {Pith},
title = {Pith review of: Basis pursuit by inconsistent alternating projections},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/2508.15026}},
note = {Machine review of arXiv:2508.15026}
}
abstract
Basis pursuit is the problem of finding a vector with smallest $\ell_1$-norm among the solutions of a given linear system of equations. It is a well-known convex relaxation of the sparse affine feasibility problem, where sparse solutions to underdetermined systems are sought. Since basis pursuit admits a linear programming reformulation, standard LP solvers are directly applicable. We instead address the basis pursuit directly in its $\ell_1$-minimization form, without LP reformulation, via a scheme that uses alternating projections in its subproblems. These subproblems are designed to be inconsistent in the sense that they relate to two non-intersecting sets. Recently in [R. Behling, Y. Bello-Cruz and L.-R. Santos, SIAM J. Optim., 31 (2021), pp. 2863-2892], inconsistency coming from infeasibility has been shown to accelerate convergence of alternating projections. We deliberately enforce this inconsistency by constructing subproblems whose feasible sets are disjoint by design. We prove that the resulting $\ell_1$-radii converge linearly to the optimal value, and that when the solution is unique, all generated sequences converge linearly to it at a rate governed by a natural error bound between the feasible set and the optimal $\ell_1$-ball. The proposed method is numerically competitive against state-of-the-art open-source solvers on synthetic and real-world instances.
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Forward citations
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Reviewed May 18, 2026 · model on record in the stance chip above.
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