Error Bounds of Regularized Gap Functions for Nonsmooth Variational Inequality Problems

We study the Clarke–Rockafellar directional derivatives of the regularized gap functions (and of some modified ones) for the variational inequality problem (VIP) defined by a locally Lipschitz but not necessarily differentiable function on a closed convex set in an Euclidean space. As applications we show that, under the strong monotonicity assumption, the regularized gap functions have fractional exponent error bounds and consequently that the sequences provided by an algorithm of Armijo type converge to the solution of the (VIP). The research of this author was supported by an Earmarked Grant from the Research Council of Hong Kong.