Comparison theorems for curves of bounded geodesic curvature in metric spaces of curvature bounded above (Q1917367)

The authors prove global comparison and rigidity theorems of type due to Schur and Schwarz for smooth plane curves of bounded geodesic curvature in singular spaces of curvature bounded above. Most of these estimates do not seem to appear in the literature even for smooth curves in Riemannian manifolds; abstracting to metric spaces provides an effective way to study the smooth case. Geodesic curvature is defined by comparison to curves of constant curvature in a model space. Two methods of comparison are used, one preserving sidelengths of inscribed triangles and the other preserving arclength and chordlength. Both methods result in the usual notion of geodesic curvature when applied to a smooth curve in a Riemannian manifold. The use of a majorization theorem of Reshetnyak yields the best possible global comparisons for arclength, chordlength, width and base angles in a CAT(K) space. A criterion for a metric ball to be a CAT(K) space is also given in terms of the radius.