The equation,
\(Y = \alpha X^2 + \epsilon\)
is still a linear regression since it follows the general linear form,
\(Y = \alpha X^* + \epsilon.\)
Therefore, the best predictor would be to use your standard OLS regression methods and interpret \(X^*\) appropriately (i.e., that it is the square of the \(X\) values). More appropriately, this model would be considered
curvilinear because the functional shape of it would be curvy instead of a straight line. A regression model is
nonlinear when it is nonlinear
in the coefficients. For instance, the following model is nonlinear:
\(Y = \alpha e^{\beta X}\)