From Handwiki In functional analysis, a branch of mathematics, a selection theorem is a theorem that guarantees the existence of a single-valued selection function from a given set-valued map. There are various selection theorems, and they are important in the theories of differential inclusions, optimal control, and mathematical economics.[1]
Given two sets X and Y, let F be a set-valued function from X and Y. Equivalently, [math]\displaystyle{ F:X\rightarrow\mathcal{P}(Y) }[/math] is a function from X to the power set of Y.
A function [math]\displaystyle{ f: X \rightarrow Y }[/math] is said to be a selection of F if
In other words, given an input x for which the original function F returns multiple values, the new function f returns a single value. This is a special case of a choice function.
The axiom of choice implies that a selection function always exists; however, it is often important that the selection have some "nice" properties, such as continuity or measurability. This is where the selection theorems come into action: they guarantee that, if F satisfies certain properties, then it has a selection f that is continuous or has other desirable properties.
The approximate selection theorem[2] states the following:
Suppose X is a compact metric space, Y a non-empty compact, convex subset of a normed vector space, and Φ: X → [math]\displaystyle{ \mathcal P(Y) }[/math] a multifunction all of whose values are compact and convex. If graph(Φ) is closed, then for every ε > 0 there exists a continuous function f : X → Y with graph(f) ⊂ [graph(Φ)]ε.
Here, [math]\displaystyle{ [S]_\varepsilon }[/math] denotes the [math]\displaystyle{ \varepsilon }[/math]-dilation of [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math], that is, the union of radius-[math]\displaystyle{ \varepsilon }[/math] open balls centered on points in [math]\displaystyle{ S }[/math]. The theorem implies the existence of a continuous approximate selection.
The Michael selection theorem[3] says that the following conditions are sufficient for the existence of a continuous selection:
Another set of sufficient conditions for the existence of a continuous approximate selection is given by the Deutsch–Kenderov theorem,[4] whose conditions are more general than those of Michael's theorem:
These conditions guarantee that [math]\displaystyle{ F }[/math] has a continuous approximate selection. This conclusion is thus weaker than in Michael's theorem.
In a later note, Xu proved that the Deutsch–Kenderov theorem is also valid if [math]\displaystyle{ Y }[/math] is a locally convex topological vector space.[5]
The Yannelis-Prabhakar selection theorem[6] says that the following conditions are sufficient for the existence of a continuous selection:
The Kuratowski and Ryll-Nardzewski measurable selection theorem says that if X is a Polish space and [math]\displaystyle{ \mathcal B }[/math] its Borel σ-algebra, [math]\displaystyle{ \mathrm{Cl}(X) }[/math] is the set of nonempty closed subsets of X, [math]\displaystyle{ (\Omega, \mathcal F) }[/math] is a measurable space, and [math]\displaystyle{ F : \Omega \to \mathrm{Cl}(X) }[/math] is an [math]\displaystyle{ \mathcal F }[/math]-weakly measurable map (that is, for every open subset [math]\displaystyle{ U \subseteq X }[/math] we have [math]\displaystyle{ \{\omega \in \Omega : F(\omega) \cap U \neq \empty \} \in \mathcal F }[/math]), then [math]\displaystyle{ F }[/math] has a selection that is [math]\displaystyle{ (\mathcal F, \mathcal B) }[/math]-measurable.[7]
Other selection theorems for set-valued functions include:
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Categories: [Theorems in functional analysis]