Set coverings and invertibility of Functional Galois Connections

Abstract

We consider equations of the form Bf=g, where B is a Galois connection between lattices of functions. This includes the case where B is the Legendre-Fenchel transform, or more generally a Moreau conjugacy. We characterise the existence and uniqueness of a solution f in terms of generalised subdifferentials. This extends a theorem of Vorobyev and Zimmermann, relating solutions of max-plus linear equations and set coverings. We give various illustrations.

33 pages, 2 Postscript figures; Acknowledgement added