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The most important open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximally monotone operators provided that the classical Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds, which is called the "sum problem". In this paper, we establish the maximal monotonicity of $A+B$ provided that $A$ and $B$ are maximally monotone operators such that $\dom A\cap\inte\dom B\neq\varnothing$, and $A+N_{\overline{\dom A}}$ is of type (FPV). This generalizes various current results and also gives an affirmative answer to a problem posed by Borwein and Yao. Moreover, we present an equivalent description of the sum problem., Comment: 16 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1305.6691

In this paper, we study properties of ultramaximally monotone operators. We characterize the interior and the closure of the range of an ultramaximally monotone operator. We establish the Brezis--Haraux condition in the setting of a general Banach space. Moreover, we show that every ultramaximally monotone operator is of type (NA). We also provide some sufficient conditions for a Banach space to be reflexive by a linear continuous and ultramaximally monotone operator., Comment: 19 pages

The most important open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximally monotone operators provided that the classical Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds. In this paper, we establish the maximal monotonicity of $A+B$ provided that $A$ and $B$ are maximally monotone operators such that $\sta(\dom A)\cap\inte\dom B\neq\varnothing$, and $A$ is of type (FPV). We show that when also $\dom A$ is convex, the sum operator: $A+B$ is also of type (FPV). Our result generalizes and unifies several recent sum theorems., Comment: 28 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1212.4266

In this paper, we study the rate of convergence of the cyclic projection algorithm applied to finitely many basic semi-algebraic convex sets. We establish an explicit convergence rate estimate which relies on the maximum degree of the polynomials that generate the basic semi-algebraic convex sets and the dimension of the underlying space. We achieve our results by exploiting the algebraic structure of the basic semi-algebraic convex sets., Comment: 35 pages, revision incorporating referees' comments

In this paper, we study convex analysis and its theoretical applications. We first apply important tools of convex analysis to Optimization and to Analysis. We then show various deep applications of convex analysis and especially infimal convolution in Monotone Operator Theory. Among other things, we recapture the Minty surjectivity theorem in Hilbert space, and present a new proof of the sum theorem in reflexive spaces. More technically, we also discuss autoconjugate representers for maximally monotone operators. Finally, we consider various other applications in mathematical analysis., Comment: 38 pages, minor revision incorporating referees' comments

The most famous open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximally monotone operators provided that Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds. In this paper, we prove the maximal monotonicity of $A+B$ provided that $A, B$ are maximally monotone and $A$ is a linear relation, as soon as Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds: $\dom A\cap\inte\dom B\neq\varnothing$. Moreover, $A+B$ is of type (FPV)., Comment: 16 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1010.4346, arXiv:1005.2247

We introduce and study a new dual condition which characterizes zero duality gap in nonsmooth convex optimization. We prove that our condition is weaker than all existing constraint qualifications, including the closed epigraph condition. Our dual condition was inspired by, and is weaker than, the so-called Bertsekas' condition for monotropic programming problems. We give several corollaries of our result and special cases as applications. We pay special attention to the polyhedral and sublinear cases, and their implications in convex optimization., Comment: 30pages, final revision, to appear Journal of Nonlinear and Convex Analysis

In this paper, we survey recent progress on the theory of maximally monotone operators in general Banach space. We also extend various of the results and leave some open questions., Comment: 39 pages, final revision, appear Infinite Products of Operators and Their Applications, Contemporary Mathematics

In this paper, we study the properties of integral functionals induced on $L^1_E (S,\mu)$ by closed convex functions on a Euclidean space $E$. We give sufficient conditions for such integral functions to be strongly rotund (well-posed). We show that in this generality functions such as the Boltzmann-Shannon entropy and the Fermi-Dirac entropy are strongly rotund. We also study convergence in measure and give various limiting counterexample., Comment: 31 pages

We provide a concise analysis about what is known regarding when the closure of the domain of a maximally monotone operator on an arbitrary real Banach space is convex. In doing so, we also provide an affirmative answer to a problem posed by Simons., Comment: 12 pages

In this paper, we consider the structure of maximally monotone operators in Banach space whose domains have nonempty interior and we present new and explicit structure formulas for such operators. Along the way, we provide new proofs of the norm-to-weak$^{*}$ closedness and of property (Q) for these operators (as recently proven by Voisei). Various applications and limiting examples are given., Comment: 25 pages

Maximally monotone operators play a key role in modern optimization and variational analysis. Two useful subclasses are rectangular (also known as star monotone) and paramonotone operators, which were introduced by Brezis and Haraux, and by Censor, Iusem and Zenios, respectively. The former class has useful range properties while the latter class is of importance for interior point methods and duality theory. Both notions are automatic for subdifferential operators and known to coincide for certain matrices; however, more precise relationships between rectangularity and paramonotonicity were not known. Our aim is to provide new results and examples concerning these notions. It is shown that rectangularity and paramonotonicity are actually independent. Moreover, for linear relations, rectangularity implies paramonotonicity but the converse implication requires additional assumptions. We also consider continuous linear monotone operators, and we point out that in Hilbert space both notions are automatic for certain displacement mappings.

During the 1970s Br\'ezis and Browder presented a now classical characterization of maximal monotonicity of monotone linear relations in reflexive spaces. In this paper, we extend and refine their result to a general Banach space., Comment: 23 pages

Enlargements have proven to be useful tools for studying maximally monotone mappings. It is therefore natural to ask in which cases the enlargement does not change the original mapping. Svaiter has recently characterized non-enlargeable operators in reflexive Banach spaces and has also given some partial results in the nonreflexive case. In the present paper, we provide another characterization of non-enlargeable operators in nonreflexive Banach spaces under a closedness assumption on the graph. Furthermore, and still for general Banach spaces, we present a new proof of the maximality of the sum of two maximally monotone linear relations. We also present a new proof of the maximality of the sum of a maximally monotone linear relation and a normal cone operator when the domain of the linear relation intersects the interior of the domain of the normal cone., Comment: 26 pages

We study a question posed by Stephen Simons in his 2008 monograph involving "bigger conjugate" (BC) functions and the partial infimal convolution. As Simons demonstrated in his monograph, these function have been crucial to the understanding and advancement of the state-of-the-art of harder problems in monotone operator theory, especially the sum problem. In this paper, we provide some tools for further analysis of BC--functions which allow us to answer Simons' problem in the negative. We are also able to refute a similar but much harder conjecture which would have generalized a classical result of Br\'ezis, Crandall and Pazy. Our work also reinforces the importance of understanding unbounded skew linear relations to construct monotone operators with unexpected properties., Comment: 16 pages

In this paper, we construct maximally monotone operators that are not of Gossez's dense-type (D) in many nonreflexive spaces. Many of these operators also fail to possess the Br{\o}nsted-Rockafellar (BR) property. Using these operators, we show that the partial inf-convolution of two BC--functions will not always be a BC--function. This provides a negative answer to a challenging question posed by Stephen Simons. Among other consequences, we deduce that every Banach space which contains an isomorphic copy of the James space $\mathbf{J}$ or its dual $\mathbf{J}^*$, or $c_0$ or its dual $\ell^1$, admits a non type (D) operator., Comment: 34 pages

We show that every maximally monotone operator of Fitzpatrick-Phelps type defined on a real Banach space must be of dense type. This provides an affirmative answer to a question posed by Stephen Simons in 2001 and implies that various important notions of monotonicity coincide., Comment: 8 pages

It is shown that, for maximally monotone linear relations defined on a general Banach space, the monotonicities of dense type, of negative-infimum type, and of Fitzpatrick-Phelps type are the same and equivalent to monotonicity of the adjoint. This result also provides affirmative answers to two problems: one posed by Phelps and Simons, and the other by Simons., Comment: 15 pages

Monotone linear relations play important roles in variational inequality problems and quadratic optimizations. In this paper, we give explicit maximally monotone linear subspace extensions of a monotone linear relation in finite dimensional spaces. Examples are provided to illustrate our extensions. Our results generalize a recent result by Crouzeix and Anaya., Comment: 27 pages

The most important open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximally monotone operators provided that Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds. In this paper, we prove the maximal monotonicity of $A+\partial f$ provided that $A$ is a maximally monotone linear relation, and $f$ is a proper lower semicontinuous convex function satisfying $\dom A\cap\inte\dom \partial f\neq\varnothing$. Moreover, $A+\partial f$ is of type (FPV). The maximal monotonicity of $A+\partial f$ when $\intdom A\cap\dom \partial f\neq\varnothing$ follows from a result by Verona and Verona, which the present work complements., Comment: 16 pages

The most important open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximal monotone operators provided that Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds. In this paper, we prove the maximal monotonicity of $A+B$ provided that $A$ and $B$ are maximal monotone operators such that $\dom A\cap\inte\dom B\neq\varnothing$, $A+N_{\overline{\dom B}}$ is of type (FPV), and $\dom A\cap\overline{\dom B}\subseteq\dom B$. The proof utilizes the Fitzpatrick function in an essential way., Comment: 15 pages Revision

The most important open problem in Monotone Operator Theory concerns the maximal monotonicity of the sum of two maximal monotone operators provided that Rockafellar's constraint qualification holds. In this note, we provide a new maximal monotonicity result for the sum of a maximal monotone relation and the subdifferential operator of a proper, lower semicontinuous, sublinear function. The proof relies on Rockafellar's formula for the Fenchel conjugate of the sum as well as some results on the Fitzpatrick function., Comment: 10 pages

Monotone operators are of basic importance in optimization as they generalize simultaneously subdifferential operators of convex functions and positive semidefinite (not necessarily symmetric) matrices. In 1970, Asplund studied the additive decomposition of a maximal monotone operator as the sum of a subdifferential operator and an "irreducible" monotone operator. In 2007, Borwein and Wiersma [SIAM J. Optim. 18 (2007), pp. 946-960] introduced another additive decomposition, where the maximal monotone operator is written as the sum of a subdifferential operator and a "skew" monotone operator. Both decompositions are variants of the well-known additive decomposition of a matrix via its symmetric and skew part. This paper presents a detailed study of the Borwein-Wiersma decomposition of a maximal monotone linear relation. We give sufficient conditions and characterizations for a maximal monotone linear relation to be Borwein-Wiersma decomposable, and show that Borwein-Wiersma decomposability implies Asplund decomposability. We exhibit irreducible linear maximal monotone operators without full domain, thus answering one of the questions raised by Borwein and Wiersma. The Borwein-Wiersma decomposition of any maximal monotone linear relation is made quite explicit in Hilbert space.

Recently, in [5] Zalinescu posed a question about the characterization of the intrinsic core of the Minkowski sum of two graphs associated with two maximal monotone operators. In this note we give an affirmative answer., Comment: 6 pages

In this paper, we give two explicit examples of unbounded linear maximal monotone operators. The first unbounded linear maximal monotone operator $S$ on $\ell^{2}$ is skew. We show its domain is a proper subset of the domain of its adjoint $S^*$, and $-S^*$ is not maximal monotone. This gives a negative answer to a recent question posed by Svaiter. The second unbounded linear maximal monotone operator is the inverse Volterra operator $T$ on $L^{2}[0,1]$. We compare the domain of $T$ with the domain of its adjoint $T^*$ and show that the skew part of $T$ admits two distinct linear maximal monotone skew extensions. These unbounded linear maximal monotone operators show that the constraint qualification for the maximality of the sum of maximal monotone operators can not be significantly weakened, and they are simpler than the example given by Phelps-Simons. Interesting consequences on Fitzpatrick functions for sums of two maximal monotone operators are also given.

In this note, we study maximal monotonicity of linear relations (set-valued operators with linear graphs) on reflexive Banach spaces. We provide a new and simpler proof of a result due to Brezis-Browder which states that a monotone linear relation with closed graph is maximal monotone if and only if its adjoint is monotone. We also study Fitzpatrick functions and give an explicit formula for Fitzpatrick functions of order n for monotone symmetric linear relations.

The question whether or not the sum of two maximal monotone operators is maximal monotone under Rockafellar's constraint qualification - that is, whether or not "the sum theorem" is true - is the most famous open problem in Monotone Operator Theory. In his 2008 monograph "From Hahn-Banach to Monotonicity", Stephen Simons asked whether or not the sum theorem holds for the special case of a maximal monotone linear operator and a normal cone operator of a closed convex set provided that the interior of the set makes a nonempty intersection with the domain of the linear operator. In this note, we provide an affirmative answer to Simons' question. In fact, we show that the sum theorem is true for a maximal monotone linear relation and a normal cone operator. The proof relies on Rockafellar's formula for the Fenchel conjugate of the sum as well as some results featuring the Fitzpatrick function.

Monotone operators, especially in the form of subdifferential operators, are of basic importance in optimization. It is well known since Minty, Rockafellar, and Bertsekas-Eckstein that in Hilbert space, monotone operators can be understood and analyzed from the alternative viewpoint of firmly nonexpansive mappings, which were found to be precisely the resolvents of monotone operators. For example, the proximal mappings in the sense of Moreau are precisely the resolvents of subdifferential operators. More general notions of "resolvent", "proximal mapping" and "firmly nonexpansive" have been studied. One important class, popularized chiefly by Alber and by Kohsaka and Takahashi, is based on the normalized duality mapping. Furthermore, Censor and Lent pioneered the use of the gradient of a well behaved convex functions in a Bregman-distance based framework. It is known that resolvents are firmly nonexpansive, but the converse has been an open problem for the latter framework. In this note, we build on the very recent characterization of maximal monotonicity due to Martinez-Legaz to provide a framework for studying resolvents in which firmly nonexpansive mappings are always resolvents. This framework includes classical resolvents, resolvents based on the normalized duality mapping, resolvents based on Bregman distances, and even resolvents based on (nonsymmetric) rotators. As a by-product of recent work on the proximal average, we obtain a constructive Kirszbraun-Valentine extension result for generalized firmly nonexpansive mappings. Several examples illustrate our results.

We analyze and characterize maximal monotonicity of linear relations (set-valued operators with linear graphs). An important tool in our study are Fitzpatrick functions. The results obtained partially extend work on linear and at most single-valued operators by Phelps and Simons and by Bauschke, Borwein and Wang. Furthermore, a description of skew linear relations in terms of the Fitzpatrick family is obtained. We also answer one of Simons problems by showing that if a maximal monotone operator has a convex graph, then this graph must actually be affine.

Monotone operators are of central importance in modern optimization and nonlinear analysis. Their study has been revolutionized lately, due to the systematic use of the Fitzpatrick function. Pioneered by Penot and Svaiter, a topic of recent interest has been the representation of maximal monotone operators by so-called autoconjugate functions. Two explicit constructions were proposed, the first by Penot and Zalinescu in 2005, and another by Bauschke and Wang in 2007. The former requires a mild constraint qualification while the latter is based on the proximal average. We show that these two autoconjugate representers must coincide for continuous linear monotone operators on reflexive spaces. The continuity and the linearity assumption are both essential as examples of discontinuous linear operators and of subdifferential operators illustrate. Furthermore, we also construct an infinite family of autoconjugate representers for the identity operator on the real line.