In this paper we present different regularity conditions that equivalently characterize various ɛ-duality gap statements (with ɛ ≥ 0) for constrained optimization problems and their Lagrange and Fenchel-Lagrange duals in separated locally convex spaces, respectively. These regularity conditions are formulated by using epigraphs and ɛ-subdifferentials. When ɛ = 0 we rediscover recent results on stable strong and total duality and zero duality gap from the literature.

We study the problem of minimizing ${\int }_{\Omega }F\left(Du\left(x\right)\right)dx$ over the functions $u\in W^{1,1}\left(\Omega \right)$ that assume given boundary values $\phi$ on $\Gamma :=\partial \Omega$. The lagrangian $F$ and the domain $\Omega$ are assumed convex. A new type of hypothesis on the boundary function $\phi$ is introduced: thelower (or upper) bounded slope condition. This condition, which is less restrictive than the familiar bounded slope condition of Hartman, Nirenberg and Stampacchia, allows us to extend the classical Hilbert-Haar regularity theory to the case of semiconvex (or semiconcave) boundary...