Measure of non-Radon-Nikodym property and differentiability of convex functions on Banach spaces (Q2490466)

Several measures of noncompactness have proven their usefulness in nonlinear analysis. Among them, there are Kuratowski's measure of noncompactness \(\alpha(A)\) and de Blasi's measure of non-weak compactness \(\omega(A)\). Precisely, given \(A\subset X^*\), where \(X\) is a Banach space, \(\alpha(A):=\inf\{t>0; \exists K\subset X^*, K\) compact and convex such that \(A\subset K+tB_{X^*} \}\), and \(\omega(A):=\inf\{t>0; \exists K\subset X^*\), \(K\) \(w^*\)-compact and convex such that \(A\subset K+tB_{X^*} \}\). As is well-known, Asplundness of \(X\) can be characterized by the fact that every bounded subset of \(X^*\) has \(w^*\)-slices of arbitrary small diameter [\textit{I.~Namioka} and \textit{R. R. Phelps}, Duke Math. J. 42, 735--750 (1975; Zbl 0332.46013)]. If instead of the \(\| \cdot\| \)-diameter, the indices \(\alpha\) or \(\omega\) are used, a similar characterization of Asplundness is obtained [\textit{J. R. Giles} and \textit{W. B. Moors}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 178, 247--268 (1993; Zbl 0817.54015) and Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 48, 75--91 (1993; Zbl 0812.46007)]. In the present paper, a different index \(\gamma\), called measure of non-Radon-Nikodym property, is introduced by replacing ``\(K\) compact and convex'' in the first definition above by ``\(K\) bounded \(w^*\)-closed convex with the Radon-Nikodym property''. Obviously, \(\gamma(A)\leq \omega(A)\leq \alpha(A)\). Then it is proved (Corollary 3.1) that a Banach space \(X\) is Asplund if and only if every bounded subset of \(X^*\) has \(w^*\)-slices of arbitrary small measure with the non-Radon-Nikodym property. The author goes on to use the index \(\gamma\) for giving quantified versions of known theorems about Fréchet differentiability of continuous convex functions defined on convex open subsets of Banach spaces. An example (Theorem 3.1): Let \(f\) be a continuous convex function on an open convex subset \(D\) of a Banach space \(X\) and \(\delta\geq 0\). Suppose that for every bounded subset \(A\) of \(\partial f(D)\) and any \(\varepsilon>0\), there exists a \(w^*\)-slice \(S\) of \(A\) such that \(\gamma(S)<\delta+\varepsilon\). Then there exists a dense \(G_\delta\) subset \(G\) of \(D\) such that \(f\) is \(2\delta\)-approximate Fréchet differentiable at each point of \(G\). Here, \(\partial f(D)\) is the set of subdifferentials of \(f\) at points in \(D\), and \(\delta\)-approximate Fréchet differentiability is defined as a natural quantification of the standard Fréchet differentiability. This is the \(\gamma\)-quantified version of Theorem 2.30 in [\textit{R. R. Phelps}, ``Convex functions, monotone operators and differentiability. 2nd ed. (Lecture Notes in Mathematics. 1364) (Springer-Verlag, Berlin) (1993; Zbl 0921.46039)]. Another example (Theorem 4.2): Let \(f\) be a continuous convex function on a Banach space \(X\). Assume that \(\partial f\) is \(\gamma\)-upper semicontinuous (again, the natural extension of upper semicontinuity) on \(X\). Then every continuous convex function \(g\) with \(g\leq f\) on \(X\) is generic Fréchet differentiable on \(X\). As a consequence of the fact that a characterization of Asplundness of \(X\) can also be given in terms of the existence of a coercive continuous convex function on \(X\) with \(\gamma\)-upper semicontinuous subdifferential mapping (Theorem 4.3, an extension of a theorem in [\textit{J.~R.\ Giles} and \textit{W.~B.\ Moors}, op.~cit.]), it is proved (Corollary 4.2) that \(X\) is Asplund if \(\gamma(B_{X^*})=0\) and, otherwise, \(\gamma(B_{X^*})=1\).