Local collapsing theory. (Q1880050)

The authors provide an introduction into a variant of the geometric collapsing theory for Riemannian manifolds contained in [\textit{J. Cheeger}, \textit{K. Fukaya} and \textit{M. Gromov}, J. Am. Math. Soc. 5, No.~2, 327--372 (1992; Zbl 0758.53022)]. This theory is used by the authors in [Asian J. Math. 2, No.~3, 443--494 (1998; Zbl 0982.53030)] to develop a theory for collapsing foliated Riemannian manifolds and in [Asian J. Math. 2, No.~2, 215--262 (1998; Zbl 0912.57012)] to prove topological rigidity for certain aspherical manifolds. They also provide two appendices covering a reformulation of the \(A\)-regularity condition in terms of local coordinates associated with the exponential map as well as a review of the original collapsing theory of J. Cheeger, K. Fukaya and M. Gromov.