The Krein-Milman theorem #
This file proves the Krein-Milman lemma and the Krein-Milman theorem.
The lemma #
The lemma states that a nonempty compact set s has an extreme point. The proof goes:
- Using Zorn's lemma, find a minimal nonempty closed
tthat is an extreme subset ofs. We will show thattis a singleton, thus corresponding to an extreme point. - By contradiction,
tcontains two distinct pointsxandy. - With the (geometric) Hahn-Banach theorem, find a hyperplane that separates
xandy. - Look at the extreme (actually exposed) subset of
tobtained by going the furthest away from the separating hyperplane in the direction ofx. It is nonempty, closed and an extreme subset ofs. - It is a strict subset of
t(yisn't in it), sotisn't minimal. Absurd.
The theorem #
The theorem states that a compact convex set s is the closure of the convex hull of its extreme
points. It is an almost immediate strengthening of the lemma. The proof goes:
- By contradiction,
s \ closure (convexHull ℝ (extremePoints ℝ s))is nonempty, say withx. - With the (geometric) Hahn-Banach theorem, find a hyperplane that separates
xfromclosure (convexHull ℝ (extremePoints ℝ s)). - Look at the extreme (actually exposed) subset of
s \ closure (convexHull ℝ (extremePoints ℝ s))obtained by going the furthest away from the separating hyperplane. It is nonempty by assumption of nonemptiness and compactness, so by the lemma it has an extreme point. - This point is also an extreme point of
s. Absurd.
Related theorems #
When the space is finite dimensional, the closure can be dropped to strengthen the result of the
Krein-Milman theorem. This leads to the Minkowski-Carathéodory theorem (currently not in mathlib).
Birkhoff's theorem is the Minkowski-Carathéodory theorem applied to the set of bistochastic
matrices, permutation matrices being the extreme points.
References #
See chapter 8 of [Barry Simon, Convexity][simon2011]
Krein-Milman lemma: In a LCTVS, any nonempty compact set has an extreme point.
Krein-Milman theorem: In a LCTVS, any compact convex set is the closure of the convex hull of its extreme points.
A continuous affine map is surjective from the extreme points of a compact set to the extreme points of the image of that set. This inclusion is in general strict.