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
t
that is an extreme subset ofs
. We will show thatt
is a singleton, thus corresponding to an extreme point. - By contradiction,
t
contains two distinct pointsx
andy
. - With the (geometric) Hahn-Banach theorem, find a hyperplane that separates
x
andy
. - Look at the extreme (actually exposed) subset of
t
obtained 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
(y
isn't in it), sot
isn'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
x
fromclosure (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
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.