Revisiting general source condition in learning over a Hilbert space

Abstract: In Learning Theory, the smoothness assumption on the target function (known as source condition) is a key factor in establishing theoretical convergence rates for an estimator. The existing general form of the source condition, as discussed in learning theory literature, has traditionally been restricted to a class of functions that can be expressed as a product of an operator monotone function and a Lipschitz continuous function. In this note, we remove these restrictions on the index function and establish optimal convergence rates for least-square regression over a Hilbert space with general regularization under a general source condition, thereby significantly broadening the scope of existing theoretical results.