Parseval Proximal Neural Networks
In this talk we show that a certain concatenation of a proximity operator with an affine operator is again a proximity operator on a suitable Hilbert space. We then use our findings to establish so-called proximal neural networks (PNNs) and stable tight frame proximal neural networks. If the network arises from tight frame analysis or synthesis operators, then it forms an averaged operator. Hence, it has Lipschitz constant 1 and belongs to the class of so-called Lipschitz networks, which were recently applied to defend against adversarial attacks. Moreover, due to its averaging property, PNNs can be used within so-called Plug-and-Play algorithms with convergence guarantee. In case of Parseval frames, we call the networks Parseval proximal neural networks (PPNNs). Then, the involved linear operators are in a Stiefel manifold and corresponding minimization methods can be applied for training. Finally, some proof-of-the concept examples demonstrate the performance of PPNNs.