Non-convergence of the L-curve regularization parameter selection method

The L-curve method was developed for the selection of regularization parameters in the solution of discrete systems obtained from ill-posed problems. An analysis of this method is given for selecting a parameter for Tikhonov regularization. This analysis, which is carried out in a semi-discrete, semi-stochastic setting, shows that the L-curve approach yields regularized solutions which fail to converge for a certain class of problems. A numerical example is also presented which indicates that this lack of convergence can arise in practical applications.