  Implicit variables of a mathematical program are variables which do not need
to be optimized but are used to model feasibility conditions. They frequently
appear in several different problem classes of optimization theory comprising
bilevel programming, evaluated multiobjective optimization, or nonlinear
optimization problems with slack variables. In order to deal with implicit
variables, they are often interpreted as explicit ones. Here, we first point
out that this is a light-headed approach which induces artificial locally
optimal solutions. Afterwards, we derive various Mordukhovich-stationarity-type
necessary optimality conditions which correspond to treating the implicit
variables as explicit ones on the one hand, or using them only implicitly to
model the constraints on the other. A detailed comparison of the obtained
stationarity conditions as well as the associated underlying constraint
qualifications will be provided. Overall, we proceed in a fairly general
setting relying on modern tools of variational analysis. Finally, we apply our
findings to different well-known problem classes of mathematical optimization
in order to visualize the obtained theory.
