A reflection on Tingley's problem and some applications (Q2633856)

In [Geom. Dedicata 22, 371--378 (1987; Zbl 0615.51005)], \textit{D. Tingley} asked the following question: let $f$ be a bijective isometry between the unit spheres $S_X$ and $S_E$ of real Banach spaces $X$, $E$ respectively. Is it true that $f$ extends to a linear isometry $F: X \to E$ of the corresponding spaces? The problem has attracted a number of researchers: a search with the keywords ``Tingley problem'' shows 60 papers with partial positive results, and, in particular, it is known [\textit{V. Kadets} and \textit{M. Martín}, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 396, No. 2, 441--447 (2012; Zbl 1258.46004)] that, if the domain space is finite dimensional and its unit ball is a polyhedron, then the answer is positive. For general spaces, Tingley's innocent-looking question remains unanswered even in dimension two. The paper under review achieves substantial progress by surprisingly elementary reasoning overlooked by other researchers. In particular, it is demonstrated that an onto isometry $f$ between the unit spheres of strictly convex finite-dimensional spaces extends to a linear operator whenever the restriction of $f$ to some relatively open subset does the same. The same statement is valid for two-dimensional spaces without the assumption of strict convexity. Consequently, if the domain space is two-dimensional but not strictly convex, then the answer to Tingley's question is positive.