Kolmogorov n-Widths of Function Classes Induced by a Non-Degenerate   Differential Operator: A Convex Duality Approach
  Let $P(D)$ be the differential operator induced by a polynomial $P$, and let ${U^{[P]}_2}$ be the class of multivariate periodic functions $f$ such that $\|P(D)(f)\|_2\leq 1$. The problem of computing the asymptotic order of the Kolmogorov $n$-width $d_n({U^{[P]}_2},L_2)$ in the general case when ${U^{[P]}_2}$ is compactly embedded into $L_2$ has been open for a long time. In the present paper, we use convex analytical tools to solve it in the case when $P(D)$ is non-degenerate. 
Patrick L. Combettes and Dinh D\~ung
math.CA math.AP math.FA