Gauss equation and injectivity radii for subspaces in spaces of curvature bounded above (Q2494089): Difference between revisions

Let \(M\) be an Alexandrov space with curvature bounded above \((CBA)\) by \(K\). One says that \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in \(M\) if there is a length-preserving map \(F:N\to M\) between intrinsic metric spaces, where \(N\) is complete, and the intrinsic distances \(d_N:=s\) and extrinsic distances \(d_M:=r\) satisfy \(s-r\leq\frac{A^2}{24}r^3+o(r^3)\) for all pairs of points having \(s\) sufficiently small. For Riemannian submanifolds, this is equivalent to a bound, \(| II| \leq A\), on the second fundamental form. If \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in \(M\), the authors prove that \(N\) is an Alexandrov space of \(CBA\) by \(K+A^2\). As an application, they give a sharp estimate on the injectivity radius \(\text{inj}_N\) of a subspace \(N\) of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in a \(CAT(K)\) space, namely \(\text{inj}_N \geq \min\{\frac{\pi}{\sqrt{K+A^2}},\frac{1}{2}c(A,K)\} \), where \(c(A,K)\) is the circumference of a circle of curvature \(A\) in the simply connected, two-dimensional space form of curvature \(K\). Even in the case of Riemannian manifolds, their estimates on the injectivity radius of a submanifold seem to be new. An interesting example to which the above results apply is discussed. As a consequence, if \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in a \(CAT(-A^2)\) space \(M\), then \(N\) is \(CAT(0)\) and embedded. The proofs are based on \textit{A. Lytchak}'s advances in this area [Manuscr. Math. 115, 199--205 (2004; Zbl 1076.53043); ``Almost convex subsets'', Geom. Dedicata, to appear; ``Injectivity radius of non-proper spaces'', preprint] as well as on previous results of the authors [Differ. Geom. Appl. 6, 67--86 (1996; Zbl 0859.53053)].