Natural closures, natural compositions and natural sums of monotone operators

We introduce new methods for defining generalized sums of monotone operators and generalized compositions of monotone operators with linear maps. Under asymptotic conditions we show these operations coincide with the usual ones. When the monotone operators are subdifferentials of convex functions, a similar conclusion holds. We compare these generalized operations with previous constructions by Attouch–Baillon–Théra, Revalski–Théra and Pennanen–Revalski–Théra. The constructions we present are motivated by fuzzy calculus rules in nonsmooth analysis. We also introduce a convergence and a closure operation for operators which may be of independent interest.