Tubes about functions and multifunctions (Q2510981)

Let \(X\) be a topological space and \(\langle Y,d \rangle\) a metric space. For \(\varepsilon >0\) and a multifunction \(\Gamma\) from \(X\) to \(Y\), the metric tube of radius \(\varepsilon\) is defined as the set \(\{(x,y) \in X \times Y : d(y,\Gamma (x))< \varepsilon \}\), which is the graph \(\text{Gr}(\Gamma_\varepsilon)\) of the enlargement multifunction \(\Gamma_\varepsilon\) from \(X\) to \(Y\) defined by \(\Gamma_\varepsilon (x) =\{y \in Y : d(y , \Gamma (x)) <\varepsilon \}\), \(x \in X\). In this paper, the authors give characterizations of lower semicontinuity of multifunctions in terms of tubes and enlargement multifunctions. By applying the characterizations, they give a variant of the open mapping theorem and another proof of the Berge maximum theorem. A characterization of upper semicontinuity of multifunctions by means of the ``anti-tube'' \(\{(x,y) \in X\times Y : d(y, \Gamma (x)) > \varepsilon \}\) is also given.