Unboundedness of the images of set-valued mappings having closed graphs: application to vector optimization

Abstract In this paper, we propose criteria for unboundedness of the images of set-valued mappings having closed graphs in Euclidean spaces. We focus on mappings whose domains are non-closed or whose values are connected. These criteria allow us to see structural properties of solutions in vector optimization, where solution sets can be considered as the images of solution mappings associated to specific scalarization methods. In particular, we prove that if the domain of a certain solution mapping is non-closed, then the weak Pareto solution set is unbounded. Furthermore, for a quasi-convex problem, we demonstrate two criteria to ensure that if the weak Pareto solution set is disconnected then each connected component is unbounded.