Semi-continuous quadratic optimization: existence conditions and duality scheme

In this work, we study the class of problems called semi-continuous optimization, which contains constrained minimization (maximization) problems with lower (upper) semi-continuous objective functions. We show some existence conditions for solutions based on asymptotic techniques, as well as a duality scheme based on the Fenchel–Moreau conjugation specifically applied to semi-continuous problems. Promising results are obtained, when we apply this scheme to minimize quadratic functions (whose Hessians can be symmetric indefinite) over nonempty, closed and convex polyhedral sets.