Hrushikesh N. Mhaskar

Let $\XX$ be a compact, smooth, connected, Riemannian manifold without boundary, $G:\XX\times\XX\to \RR$ be a kernel. Analogous to a radial basis function network, an eignet is an expression of the form $\sum_{j=1}^M a_jG(\circ,y_j)$, where $a_j\in\RR$, $y_j\in\XX$, $1\le j\le M$. We describe a deterministic, universal algorithm for constructing an eignet for approximating functions in $L^p(\mu;\XX)$ for a general class of measures $\mu$ and kernels $G$. Our algorithm yields linear operators. Using the minimal separation amongst the centers $y_j$ as the cost of approximation, we give modulus of smoothness estimates for the degree of approximation by our eignets, and show by means of a converse theorem that these are the best possible for every \emph{individual function}. We also give estimates on the coefficients $a_j$ in terms of the norm of the eignet. Finally, we demonstrate that if any sequence of eignets satisfies the optimal estimates for the degree of approximation of a smooth function, measured in terms of the minimal separation, then the derivatives of the eignets also approximate the corresponding derivatives of the target function in an optimal manner.

The purpose of this paper is to construct universal, auto--adaptive, localized, linear, polynomial (-valued) operators based on scattered data on the (hyper--)sphere $\SS^q$ ($q\ge 2$). The approximation and localization properties of our operators are studied theoretically in deterministic as well as probabilistic settings. Numerical experiments are presented to demonstrate their superiority over traditional least squares and discrete Fourier projection polynomial approximations. An essential ingredient in our construction is the construction of quadrature formulas based on scattered data, exact for integrating spherical polynomials of (moderately) high degree. Our formulas are based on scattered sites; i.e., in contrast to such well known formulas as Driscoll--Healy formulas, we need not choose the location of the sites in any particular manner. While the previous attempts to construct such formulas have yielded formulas exact for spherical polynomials of degree at most 18, we are able to construct formulas exact for spherical polynomials of degree 178.