Variable Projection Methods for Solving Regularized Separable Inverse Problems with Applications to Semi-Blind Image Deblurring

Abstract: Separable nonlinear least squares problems appear in many inverse problems, including semi-blind image deblurring. The variable projection (VarPro) method provides an efficient approach for solving such problems by eliminating linear variables and reducing the problem to a smaller, nonlinear one. In this work, we extend VarPro to solve minimization problems containing a differentiable regularization term on the nonlinear parameters, along with a general-form Tikhonov regularization term on the linear variables. Furthermore, we develop a quasi-Newton method for solving the resulting reduced problem, and provide a local convergence analysis under standard smoothness assumptions, establishing conditions for superlinear or quadratic convergence. For large-scale settings, we introduce an inexact LSQR-based variant and prove its local convergence despite inner-solve and Hessian approximations. Numerical experiments on semi-blind deblurring show that parameter regularization prevents degenerate no-blur solutions and that the proposed methods achieve accurate reconstructions, with the inexact variant offering a favorable accuracy-cost tradeoff consistent with the theory.