Criteria for Convexity of Closed Sets in Banach Spaces

Abstract

Criteria for the convexity of closed sets in general Banach spaces in terms of the Clarke and Bouligand tangent cones are proved. In the case of uniformly convex spaces, these convexity criteria are stated in terms of proximal normal cones. These criteria are used to derive sufficient conditions for the convexity of the images of convex sets under nonlinear mappings and multifunctions.