On metric spaces with the properties of de Groot and Nagata in dimension one (Q2268654)

A metric \(d\) on a set \(X\) is said to have the de Groot property \(GP_1\) if for any four points \(x_0, x_1, x_2, x_3 \in X\) there is a triplet of indices \(i,j,k \in \{1,2,3\}\) such that \(i \neq j\) and \(d(x_i, x_j) \leq \text{d}(x_0, x_k)\). If, in addition, \(k \in \{i,j\}\) then the metric \(d\) is said to have the Nagata property \(NP_1\). The authors prove that if a \(GP_1\)-metric space \(X\) is locally connected then each subset \(I \subset X\), isometric to an interval \((a,b) \subset \mathbb{R}\), is open in \(X\). This result in particular implies that (a) the Euclidean metric on the interval \((-1,1)\) (which has clearly the property \(NP_1\)) cannot be extended to an admissible \(GP_1\)-metric on the triode \(T = [-1,1] \cup [0, i]\) of the complex plane; and (b) there is no topologically homogeneous \(GP_1\)-metric space \(X\) such that \(X\) contains both an isometric copy of the Euclidean interval \([0,1]\) and a topological copy of \(T\). Furthermore, they prove that if a \(GP_1\)-metric space \(X\) contains an isometric copy of each compact \(NP_1\)-metric space then \(X\) has density \(\geq\) continuum.