The metric projections onto closed convex cones in a Hilbert space

Abstract: We study the metric projection onto the closed convex cone in a real Hilbert space $\mathscr{H}$ generated by a sequence $\mathcal{V} = {v_n}{n=0}^\infty$. The first main result of this paper provides a sufficient condition under which we can identify the closed convex cone generated by $\mathcal{V}$ with the following set: [ \mathcal{C}[[\mathcal{V}]]: = \bigg{\sum{n=0}^\infty a_n v_n\Big|a_n\geq 0,\text{ the series }\sum_{n=0}^\infty a_n v_n\text{ converges in $\mathscr{H}$}\bigg}. ] Then, by adapting classical results on general convex cones, we give a useful description of the metric projection of a vector onto $\mathcal{C}[[\mathcal{V}]]$. As applications, we obtain the best approximations of many concrete functions in $L^2([-1,1])$ by polynomials with non-negative coefficients.