Retractions on closed sets

Abstract: On a manifold or a closed subset of a Euclidean vector space, a retraction enables to move in the direction of a tangent vector while staying on the set. Retractions are a versatile tool to perform computational tasks such as optimization, interpolation, and numerical integration. This paper studies two known definitions of retraction on a closed subset of a Euclidean vector space, one being weaker than the other. Specifically, it shows that, in the context of constrained optimization, the weaker definition should be preferred as it inherits the main property of the other while being less restrictive.