Post-Pareto Analysis and a New Algorithm for the Optimal Parameter Tuning of the Elastic Net

The paper deals with the optimal parameter tuning for the elastic net problem. This process is formulated as an optimization problem over a Pareto set. The Pareto set is associated with a convex multi-objective optimization problem, and, based on the scalarization theorem, we give a parametrical representation of it. Thus, the problem becomes a bilevel optimization with a unique response of the follower (strong Stackelberg game). Then, we apply this strategy to the parameter tuning for the elastic net problem. We propose a new algorithm called Ensalg to compute the optimal regularization path of the elastic net w.r.t. the sparsity-inducing term in the objective. In contrast to existing algorithms, our method can also deal with the so-called “many-at-a-time” case, where more than one variable becomes zero at the same time and/or changes from zero. In examples involving real-world data, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.