Thomas Hangelbroek

Thomas Hangelbroek, Fran J Narcowich, Xingping Sun et al.

This article addresses two topics of significant mathematical and practical interest in the theory of kernel approximation: the existence of local and stable bases and the L_p--boundedness of the least squares operator. The latter is an analogue of the classical problem in univariate spline theory, known there as the "de Boor conjecture". A corollary of this work is that for appropriate kernels the least squares projector provides universal near-best approximations for functions f\in L_p, 1\le p\le \infty.

Thomas Hangelbroek, Francis J. Narcowich, Christian Rieger et al.

While inverse estimates in the context of radial basis function approximation on boundary-free domains have been known for at least ten years, such theorems for the more important and difficult setting of bounded domains have been notably absent. This article develops inverse estimates for finite dimensional spaces arising in radial basis function approximation and meshless methods. The inverse estimates we consider control Sobolev norms of linear combinations of a localized basis by the $L_p$ norm over a bounded domain. The localized basis is generated by forming local Lagrange functions for certain types of RBFs (namely Matérn and surface spline RBFs). In this way it extends the boundary-free construction of Fuselier, Hangelbroek, Narcowich, Ward and Wright.

Thomas Hangelbroek, Francis J. Narcowich, Christian Rieger et al.

This article develops direct and inverse estimates for certain finite dimensional spaces arising in kernel approximation. Both the direct and inverse estimates are based on approximation spaces spanned by local Lagrange functions which are spatially highly localized. The construction of such functions is computationally efficient and generalizes the construction given by the authors for restricted surface splines on $\mathbb{R}^d$. The kernels for which the theory applies includes the Sobolev-Matérn kernels for closed, compact, connected, $C^\infty$ Riemannian manifolds.

Thomas Hangelbroek

The purpose of this paper is to investigate RBF approximation with highly nonuniform centers. Recently, DeVore and Ron have developed a notion of the local density of a set of centers -- a notion that permits precise pointwise error estimates for surface spline approximation. We give an equivalent, alternative characterization of local density, one that allows effective placement of centers at different resolutions. We compare, also, the pointwise results of DeVore--Ron to previously works of Wu and Schaback and of Duchon.

Thomas Hangelbroek, Dominik Schmid

The purpose of this article is to introduce a new class of kernels on SO(3) for approximation and interpolation, and to estimate the approximation power of the associated spaces. The kernels we consider arise as linear combinations of Green's functions of certain differential operators on the rotation group. They are conditionally positive definite and have a simple closed-form expression, lending themselves to direct implementation via, e.g., interpolation, or least-squares approximation. To gauge the approximation power of the underlying spaces, we introduce an approximation scheme providing precise L_p error estimates for linear schemes, namely with L_p approximation order conforming to the L_p smoothness of the target function.

Thomas Hangelbroek

Problems involving approximation from scattered data where data is arranged quasi-uniformly have been treated by RBF methods for decades. Treating data with spatially varying density has not been investigated with the same intensity, and is far less well understood. In this article we consider the stability of surface spline interpolation (a popular type of RBF interpolation) for data with nonuniform arrangements. Using techniques similar to those recently employed by Hangelbroek, Narcowich and Ward to demonstrate the stability of interpolation from quasi-uniform data on manifolds, we show that surface spline interpolation on R^d is stable, but in a stronger, local sense. We also obtain pointwise estimates showing that the Lagrange function decays very rapidly, and at a rate determined by the local spacing of datasites. These results, in conjunction with a Lebesgue lemma, show that surface spline interpolation enjoys the same rates of convergence as those of the local approximation schemes recently developed by DeVore and Ron.

Thomas Hangelbroek, Fran J. Narcowich, Joe D. Ward

The purpose of this paper is to establish that for any compact, connected C^{\infty} Riemannian manifold there exists a robust family of kernels of increasing smoothness that are well suited for interpolation. They generate Lagrange functions that are uniformly bounded and decay away from their center at an exponential rate. An immediate corollary is that the corresponding Lebesgue constant will be uniformly bounded with a constant whose only dependence on the set of data sites is reflected in the mesh ratio, which measures the uniformity of the data. The analysis needed for these results was inspired by some fundamental work of Matveev where the Sobolev decay of Lagrange functions associated with certain kernels on Ω\subset R^d was obtained. With a bit more work, one establishes the following: Lebesgue constants associated with surface splines and Sobolev splines are uniformly bounded on R^d provided the data sites Ξare quasi-uniformly distributed. The non-Euclidean case is more involved as the geometry of the underlying surface comes into play. In addition to establishing bounded Lebesgue constants in this setting, a "zeros lemma" for compact Riemannian manifolds is established.