Sard theorems for Lipschitz functions and applications in optimization (Q2630136)

The main result of the paper is the following ``preparatory Sard theorem'' ( Theorem 3 ) : Let \(\mathcal{M}\) be a d-dimensional paracompact manifold of class \(C^k, k\geq 1\). Given \(m+1\) functions \(\phi^0, \phi^1,\ldots,\phi^m : \mathcal{M} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^p\), define \(\Psi : \mathrm{inn}\Delta^m\times \mathcal{M} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^p, \Psi(\lambda,x)=\sum_{i=0}^m\lambda_i\phi^i(x)\), where \(\mathrm{inn}\Delta^m\) is the algebraic interior of the simplex \(\Delta^m\) in \(\mathbb{R}^m\), denote by \(\mathrm{Crit}\Psi\) the set of critical points of \(\Psi\) and by \(\widehat{\mathrm{Crit}}\Psi\) the set of strongly critical points of \(\Psi\) , then the following proprieties hold : (I) If \(k\geq d-p+1\), then \(\Psi(\widehat{\mathrm{Crit}}\Psi)\) is null in \(\mathbb{R}^p\). (II) If \(k\geq \min\{d+1,m+d-p+1\}\), then \(\Psi(\mathrm{Crit}\Psi)\) is null in \(\mathbb{R}^p\). Two important results are obtained as corollaries of the previous theorem: a Morse-Sard theorem for min-type functions (Theorem 1) and a Sard theorem for Lipschitz selections (Theorem 2). Other papers of the first three authors directly connected to this topic are [Adv. Math. 242, 217--227 (2013; Zbl 1278.49017)], of the third author [SIAM J. Optim. 18, No. 2, 556--572 (2007; Zbl 1142.49006)] (with \textit{J.Bolte} et al.), and of the last author [Manuscr. Math. 113, No. 2, 251--265 (2004; Zbl 1051.53050); Bull. Belg. Math. Soc. - Simon Stevin 13, No. 3, 521--526 (2006; Zbl 1135.53021); Commun. Partial Differ. Equations 33, No. 3, 517--559 (2008; Zbl 1134.70007)].