An alternative proof of Berg and Nikolaev's characterization of \(CAT(0)\)-spaces via quadrilateral inequality (Q1042431)

The author presents another proof of one of the main results of the paper by \textit{I. D. Berg} and \textit{I. G. Nikolaev} [Geom. Dedicata 133, 195--218 (2008; Zbl 1144.53045), Theorem 6], namely, a geodesically connected metric space \(\left( M,\rho \right) \) is an \(\Re _{0}\)-domain (also known as \(\text{CAT}\left( 0\right) \) space) if and only if it satisfies the following quadrilateral inequality condition: For every quadruple of points \(\left\{ A,B,C,D\right\} \subseteq M \), \(\rho ^{2}\left( A,C\right) +\rho ^{2}\left( B,D\right) \leq \rho ^{2}\left( A,B\right) +\rho ^{2}\left( B,C\right) +\rho ^{2}\left( C,D\right) +\rho ^{2}\left( A,D\right) \). The proof uses some of the ideas of the paper by Berg and Nikolaev [loc. cit.]; however, instead of verifying the Aleksandrov angle comparison theorem, as it is done in [loc. cit.], the author chooses the route via the Bruhat-Tits inequality condition (which is in fact, a simple modification of a concavity condition given much earlier by \textit{A. D. Aleksandrov} [in: Begriff des Raumes in der Geometrie. Ber. Riemann-Tagung Forsch.-Inst. Math. 33--84 (1957; Zbl 0077.35702)]. This allows the author to obtain a shorter and more ``metric'' proof.