Asynchronous Block-Iterative Primal-Dual Decomposition Methods for Monotone Inclusions

Abstract: We propose new primal-dual decomposition algorithms for solving systems of inclusions involving sums of linearly composed maximally monotone operators. The principal innovation in these algorithms is that they are block-iterative in the sense that, at each iteration, only a subset of the monotone operators needs to be processed, as opposed to all operators as in established methods. Deterministic strategies are used to select the blocks of operators activated at each iteration. In addition, we allow for operator processing "lags", permitting asynchronous implementation. The decomposition phase of each iteration of our methods is to generate points in the graphs of the selected monotone operators, in order to construct a half-space containing the Kuhn-Tucker set associated with the system. The coordination phase of each iteration involves a projection onto this half-space. We present two related methods: the first method provides weakly convergent primal and dual sequences under general conditions, while the second is a variant in which strong convergence is guaranteed without additional assumptions. Neither algorithm requires prior knowledge of bounds on the linear operators involved or the inversion of linear operators. Our algorithmic framework unifies and significantly extends the approaches taken in earlier work on primal-dual projective splitting methods.