Closedness of convex sets in Orlicz spaces with applications to dual representation of risk measures

Abstract

Let $(\Phi,\Psi)$ be a conjugate pair of Orlicz functions. A set in the Orlicz space $L^\Phi$ is said to be order closed if it is closed with respect to dominated convergence of sequences of functions. A well known problem arising from the theory of risk measures in financial mathematics asks whether order closedness of a convex set in $L^\Phi$ characterizes closedness with respect to the topology $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$. (See [26, p.3585].) In this paper, we show that for a norm bounded convex set in $L^\Phi$, order closedness and $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$-closedness are indeed equivalent. In general, however, coincidence of order closedness and $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$-closedness of convex sets in $L^\Phi$ is equivalent to the validity of the Krein-Smulian Theorem for the topology $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$; that is, a convex set is $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$-closed if and only if it is closed with respect to the bounded-$\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$ topology. As a result, we show that order closedness and $\sigma(L^\Phi,L^\Psi)$-closedness of convex sets in $L^\Phi$ are equivalent if and only if either $\Phi$ or $\Psi$ satisfies the $\Delta_2$-condition. Using this, we prove the surprising result that: \emph{If (and only if) $\Phi$ and $\Psi$ both fail the $\Delta_2$-condition, then there exists a coherent risk measure on $L^\Phi$ that has the Fatou property but fails the Fenchel-Moreau dual representation with respect to the dual pair $(L^\Phi, L^\Psi)$}. A similar analysis is carried out for the dual pair of Orlicz hearts $(H^\Phi,H^\Psi)$.