Every point is critical (Q1941155)

Let \(S\) be a compact \(2\)-dimensional (topological) manifold without boundary. Then \(S\) along with a metric \(\rho \) on it of \textit{A. D. Aleksandrov} curvature bounded from below [in: Begriff des Raumes in der Geometrie, Ber. Riemann-Tagung Forsch.-Inst. Math. 33--84 (1957; Zbl 0077.35702)] is called Aleksandrov surface. If \(x\in S\), then \(\Omega _{x}\) denotes the set of all directions \(\xi \) at \(x\) (each direction \(\xi \in \Omega _{x}\) is represented by a geodesic segment starting at \(x\)). Let \(A\) denote the set of all Aleksandrov surfaces. Fix a point \(x\in S\). A point \(y\in S\setminus \{x\} \) is said to be critical with respect to \(x\) if for every \(\xi \in \) \(\Omega _{y}\), there is a geodesic segment joining \(y\) to \(x\) with direction \(\eta \in \Omega _{y}\) such that the (Aleksandrov) angle between \( \xi \) and \(\eta \) is not greater than \(\pi /2\). It is not difficult to see that if \(x\in S\) and \(y\in S\) is farthest from \(x\), then \(y\) is critical with respect to \(x\). The main result states that every point \(y\in S\in A\) is critical with respect to some point \(x\in S\setminus \{y\} \). In addition, the authors prove that a smooth orientable Aleksandrov surface \(S\) is homeomorphic to a sphere if and only if each point \(y\in S\) is critical with respect to exactly one point \(x\in S\setminus \{y\} \).