The NSLUC property and Klee envelope (Q303578)

Let \(X\) be a real normed space and \(f:X\to\mathbb{R} \cup\{+\infty\}\). For \(\lambda>0\) and \(p\geq 1\) the Klee envelope of the function \(f\) at \(x\in X\) is defined by \[ \kappa_{\lambda,p}f(x)=\sup_{x\in X}\left(\frac1{p\lambda}\,\|x-y\|^p-f(y)\right)\,, \] and the associated attainment set by \[ Q_{\lambda,p}f(x)=\left\{y\in X : \frac1{p\lambda}\,\|x-y\|^p-f(y)= \kappa_{\lambda,p}f(x)\right\}\,. \] If \(\lambda = p=1\) and \(f\) is the indicator function \(\psi_S\) of a subset \(S\) of \(X\) (\(\psi_S(x)=0\) for \(x\in S\) and \(=\infty\) otherwise), then the Klee envelope becomes the farthest distance function \(\Delta_S(x)=\sup\{\|x-y\| : y\in S\}\) and the attainment set is the set \(Q_S(x)\) of farthest points from \(x\) in \(S\). At the same time, \(\kappa_{\lambda,p}f(x)\) is a particular case of supremal convolution (in the sense of Moreau) applied to the functions \(\frac1{p\lambda}\|x-\cdot\|^p\) and \(-f(\cdot)\). A key property used throughout the paper consists in the validity of the following inclusions \[ (*)\qquad Q_{\lambda,p}f(x)\subset Q_{\lambda,p}(\overline{co}f)(x)\subset co Q_{\lambda,p}f(x)\,, \] allowing to reduce the study of attainment points to lsc convex functions (here \(\overline{co}f\) denotes the upper lsc convex envelope of \(f\)). In the case of farthest points, one obtains the equality \(Q_S(x)=Q_{\overline{co} S}(x)\). For the validity of the inclusions \((*)\), a special property is needed, called Norm Subdifferential Local Uniform Convexity (NSLUC) property of a subset \(S\) of \(X\), expressed in terms of bounded subsets of \(S\) and of the subdifferential \(\partial\|\cdot\|\) of the norm. It turns out that the whole space \(X\) has the NSLUC property if and only if its unit sphere \(S_X\) has this property. If \(X\) is reflexive, the \(X\) has NSLUC if and only if the norm \(\|\cdot\|\) is strictly convex and has the Kadec-Klee property, if and only if \(\|\cdot\|\) has the Kadec-Klee property and its dual norm is Gâteaux differentiable off the origin. In Theorem 2, the authors show that the inclusions \((*)\) hold provided that the set \(\text{dom}f-x\) has the NSLUC property. They hold also if the Banach space \(X\) is locally uniformly rotund, or fully \(k\)-convex, and in other instances as well (Theorem 3). Connections of the Klee envelope to an appropriate distance function are established, allowing to deduce some subdifferential properties from those of the distance function to the complement of a an open bounded convex set (the so called Klee caverns). Another question discussed in the paper is Klee's problem: if every subset of a Banach space with the unique farthest point property is a singleton, then every Chebyshev subset of \(X\) is convex. The authors show that if \(S\) is a closed convex subset of a Hilbert space \(X\) having the unique farthest point property and containing at least two points, then there there exists a bounded open convex subset \(U\) of \(X\) such that the set \(X\setminus U\) is Chebyshev. The question of the density of farthest points of a subset \(S\) in \(X\) is also discussed in connection with the Mazur intersection property (every closed bounded convex subset of \(X\) is equal to the intersection of all closed balls containing it). The results obtained in this paper generalize many known results, shed a new light and add new knowledge to some old problems on farthest points.