Duality and separation theorems in idempotent semimodules

Abstract

We consider subsemimodules and convex subsets of semimodules over semirings with an idempotent addition. We introduce a nonlinear projection on subsemimodules: the projection of a point is the maximal approximation from below of the point in the subsemimodule. We use this projection to separate a point from a convex set. We also show that the projection minimizes the analogue of Hilbert's projective metric. We develop more generally a theory of dual pairs for idempotent semimodules. We obtain as a corollary duality results between the row and column spaces of matrices with entries in idempotent semirings. We illustrate the results by showing polyhedra and half-spaces over the max-plus semiring.