Second order asymptotic analysis: Basic theory

Recently, the concepts of second order asymptotic directions and functions have been introduced and applied to global and vector optimization problems. In this work, we establish some new properties for these two concepts. In particular, in case of a convex set, a complete characterization of the second order asymptotic cone is given. Also, formulas that permit the easy computation of the second order asymptotic function of a convex function are established. It is shown that the second order asymptotic function provides a finer description of the behavior of functions at infinity, than the first order asymptotic function. Finally, we show that the second order asymptotic function of a given convex one, can be seen as the first order asymptotic function of another convex function.