Widths of nonnegatively curved spaces (Q1902006)

Let \(X\) be a metric space. The \(k\)-dimensional (Uryson) width \(w_k(X)\) of \(X\) is defined as the exact lower bound of those \(\delta> 0\) for which there exists a \(k\)-dimensional space \(P\) and a continuous map \(f: X\to P\) all of whose inverse images have diameters at most \(\delta\). The author presents a proof of the following conjecture, formulated by \textit{M. Gromov} [On the geometry of differentiable manifolds, Workshop, Rome/Italy 1986, Astérisque 163-164, 93-109 (1988; Zbl 0684.53036)]: The volume and the widths of a closed Riemannian manifold \(M^n\) with nonnegative sectional curvature satisfy \[ c^{- 1} \text{Vol}(M^n)\leq \prod^{n- 1}_{k= 0} w_k(M^n)\leq c\text{ Vol}(M^n), \] where \(c= c(n)\) is a constant. The proof consists of two steps. First one introduces a different collection of measurements, called packing widths, and one proves the above inequalities for those. Then essential equivalence between widths and packing widths is established. The author works in the category of Alexandrov spaces which is largely explained by the fact that the natural process of taking Gromov-Hausdorff limits is closed in this category but not in the Riemannian category. The paper of \textit{Yu. Burago}, \textit{M. Gromov} and the author [Russ. Math. Surv. 47, No. 2, 1-58 (1992); translation from Usp. Mat. Nauk 47, No. 2(284), 3-51 (1992; Zbl 0802.53018)] is the basis of most of his arguments.