Existence of continuous euclidean embeddings for a weak class of orders

Abstract

We prove that if $X$ is a topological space that admits Debreu's classical utility theorem (eg.\ $X$ is separable and connected, second countable, etc.), then order relations on $X$ satisfying milder completeness conditions can be continuously embedded in ${\mathbb{R}}^I$ for $I$ some index set. In the particular case where $X$ is a compact metric space, this closes a conjecture of Nishimura \& Ok (2015). We also show that when ${\mathbb{R}}^I$ is given a non-standard partial order coinciding with Pareto improvement, the analogous embedding theorem fails to hold in the continuous case.

8 pages, edited for a mathematical audience