Sparse recovery under matrix uncertainty

We consider the model {eqnarray*}y=X\theta^*+\xi, Z=X+\Xi,{eqnarray*} where the random vector $y\in\mathbb{R}^n$ and the random $n\times p$ matrix $Z$ are observed, the $n\times p$ matrix $X$ is unknown, $\Xi$ is an $n\times p$ random noise matrix, $\xi\in\mathbb{R}^n$ is a noise independent of $\Xi$, and $\theta^*$ is a vector of unknown parameters to be estimated. The matrix uncertainty is in the fact that $X$ is observed with additive error. For dimensions $p$ that can be much larger than the sample size $n$, we consider the estimation of sparse vectors $\theta^*$. Under matrix uncertainty, the Lasso and Dantzig selector turn out to be extremely unstable in recovering the sparsity pattern (i.e., of the set of nonzero components of $\theta^*$), even if the noise level is very small. We suggest new estimators called matrix uncertainty selectors (or, shortly, the MU-selectors) which are close to $\theta^*$ in different norms and in the prediction risk if the restricted eigenvalue assumption on $X$ is satisfied. We also show that under somewhat stronger assumptions, these estimators recover correctly the sparsity pattern.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOS793 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org