A new regularized stochastic approximation framework for stochastic inverse problems

We study the nonlinear inverse problem of estimating stochastic parameters in the fourth-order partial differential equation with random data. The primary focus is on developing a novel stochastic approximation framework for inverse problems consisting of three key components. As a first step, we reformulate the inverse problem into a stochastic convex optimization problem. The second step includes developing a new regularized stochastic extragradient framework for a nonlinear variational inequality, which subsumes the optimality conditions for the optimization formulation of the inverse problem. The third step involves modeling random variables by a Karhunen-Loeve type finite-dimensional noise representation, allowing the direct and the inverse problems to be conveniently discretized. We show that the regularized extragradient methods are strongly convergent in a Hilbert space setting, and we also provide several auxiliary results for the inverse problem, including Lipschitz continuity and a derivative characterization of the solution map. We provide the outcome of computational experiments to estimate stochastic and deterministic parameters. The numerical results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the developed framework and validate stochastic approximation as an effective method for stochastic inverse problems.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.