Proximal gradient methods in Banach spaces

Proximal gradient methods are a popular tool for the solution of structured, nonsmooth minimization problems. In this work, we investigate an extension of the former to general Banach spaces and provide worst-case convergence rates for, both, convex and nonconvex, problem instances. Moreover, assuming additional regularity properties of stationary points, linear rates of convergence are derived. The theoretical results are illustrated for bang-bang type optimal control problems with partial differential equations which we study in the space of Radon measures. An efficient implementation of the resulting L¹-proximal gradient method is given and its performance is compared to standard L²-proximal gradient as well as Frank-Wolfe methods. The paper is complemented by discussing the relationship among different regularity properties as well as by providing a novel characterization of the Polyak--Łojasiewicz--Kurdyka property via second-order conditions involving weak* second subderivatives.