Quadratic Growth and Stability in Convex Programming Problems with Multiple Solutions

Given a convex program with $C^2$ functions and a convex set S of solutions to the problem, we give a second order condition which guarantees that the problem does not have solutions outside of S. This condition is interpreted as a characterization for the quadratic growth of the cost function. The crucial role in the proofs is played by a theorem describing a certain uniform regularity property of critical cones in smooth convex programs. We apply these results to the discussion of stability of solutions of a convex program under possibly nonconvex perturbations.