Approximate selections in \(\alpha\)-convex metric spaces and topological degree (Q1769877)

In the literature there are many concepts of segments in a set endowed with some structure(s), each of them leading to a concept of abstract convexity. In this interesting paper the authors introduce the concept of \(\alpha\)-convexity in metric spaces described below. Let \((Y,d)\) be a metric space and \(h\) the Pompeiu-Hausdorff distance in the space of the nonempty compact subsets of \(Y\). Set \(J=[0,1]\). Let \(\alpha:Y\times Y\times J\rightarrow Y\) be a continuous mapping satisfying the following conditions: (i) \(\alpha(y_0,y_0,t)=y_0\), for \(y_0\in Y\) and \(t\in J\); (ii) \(\alpha(y_1,y_2,0)=y_1\), \(\alpha(y_1,y_2,1)=y_2\) for every \((y_1,y_2)\in Y\times Y\); (iii) there is \(r_{\alpha}\), \(0<r_{\alpha}\leq +\infty\), such that for every \((y_1,y_2),(\overline{y}_1,\overline{y}_2)\in Y\times Y\) with \(d(y_1,\overline{y}_1)<r_{\alpha},d(y_2,\overline{y}_2)<r_{\alpha}\) one has \(h(\wedge_{\alpha}(y_1,y_2),\wedge_{\alpha}(\overline{y}_1,\overline{y}_2))\leq \max\{d(y_1,\overline{y}_1),d(y_2,\overline{y}_2)\}\) where \(\wedge_{\alpha}(y_1,y_2)=\{\alpha(y_1,y_2,t):t\in J\}\). Then \(Y\) equipped with the mapping \(\alpha\) is called an \(\alpha\)-convex metric space. A subset \(A\) of \(Y\) is called \(\alpha\)-convex if for every \(y_1,y_2\in A\), \(\wedge_{\alpha}(y_1,y_2)\subset A\). After giving several examples of \(\alpha\)-convex metric spaces the authors prove the existence of approximate continuous selections for Pompeiu-Hausdorff upper semicontinuous multifunctions with nonempty closed bounded \(\alpha\)-convex values. This result is further used to define the topological degree for a class of multifunctions wity \(\alpha\)-convex values.