Existence of Efficient Points in Vector Optimization and Generalized Bishop–Phelps Theorem

In a set without linear structure equipped with a preorder, we give a general existence result for efficient points. In a topological vector space equipped with a partial order induced by a closed convex cone with a bounded base, we prove another kind of existence result for efficient points; this result does not depend on the Zorn lemma. As applications, we study a solution problem in vector optimization and generalize the Bishop–Phelps theorem to a topological vector space setting by showing that the B-support points of any sequentially complete closed subset A of a topological vector space E is dense in ∂A, where B is any bounded convex subset of E.