Proper Gromov transforms of metrics are metrics (Q1861838)

In phylogenetic analysis, a standard problem is to approximate a given metric (usually derived from some data set) by a tree metric. Such a method was proposed by Gromov in the context of hyperbolic groups in [\textit{M. Gromov}, Hyperbolic Groups, Essays in group theory, Publ., Math. Sci. Res. Inst. 8, 75--263 (1987; Zbl 0634.20015)], leading to the Gromov transform which is considered in this paper. In particular, the main result of this paper is to characterize those maps whose Gromov transforms are metrics. It is expected that this result will help to better understand some tree reconstruction procedures used in phylogenetic analysis.