On local convexity of nonlinear mappings between Banach spaces
We find conditions for a smooth nonlinear map f: U → V between open subsets of Hilbert or Banach spaces to be locally convex in the sense that for some c and each positive ɛ < c the image f(B ɛ(x)) of each ɛ-ball B ɛ(x) ⊂ U is convex. We give a lower bound on c via the second order Lipschitz constant Lip2(f), the Lipschitz-open constant Lipo(f) of f, and the 2-convexity number conv2(X) of the Banach space X.