Metric Möbius geometry and a characterization of spheres (Q1942238)

The authors consider Ptolemy metric spaces, that is, metric spaces \((X,d)\) that satisfy Ptolemy's inequality \(d(x_1,x_3)d(x_2,x_4)\leq d(x_1,x_2)d(x_3,x_4)+d(x_1,x_4)d(x_2,x_3) \) for all \(x_i\in X\), \(i=1,2,3,4\). Every \(\mathrm{CAT}(0)\) space and ideal boundaries of \(\mathrm{CAT}(-1)\)-spaces are Ptolemy spaces. They define a circle in a Ptolemy metric space to be a subset \(\sigma\subset X\) homeomorphic to the 1-sphere \(S^1\) such that equality holds in Ptolemy's inequality above whenever \(x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4\in \sigma\) and \(x_1,x_3\) separate \(x_2,x_4\) in \(\sigma\). The paper under review presents a characterization of spheres among Ptolemy Möbius spaces \((X,\mathcal{M})\), that is, Ptolemy metric spaces \(X\) together with an equivalence class \(\mathcal{M}\) of (extended) metrics on \(X\) where two metrics are equivalent if they define the same cross ratio. The classical example of a Ptolemy Möbius space is \((S^n, [d_0])\) where \(S^n\) is the \(n\)-sphere and \([d_0]\) is the equivalence class of the chordal metric \(d_0\) on \(S^n\). The authors show that if \((X,\mathcal{M})\) is a compact Ptolemy Möbius space which contains at least three points and such that any three points in \(X\) lie on a circle, then \((X,\mathcal{M})\) is Möbius equivalent to \((S^n, [d_0])\) for some \(n \in \mathbb{N}\). The main part of the proof is to verify that Busemann functions to geodesic rays in \(X\) parameterized by arclength are affine. Since these Busemann functions also separate points, it follows by \textit{P. Hitzelberger} and \textit{A. Lytchak} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 135, No. 7, 2263--2271 (2007; Zbl 1128.53021)] that \(X\) is isometric to a convex subset of a (strictly convex) normed vector space. Then a characterization of normed Ptolemy spaces by \textit{I. J. Schoenberg} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 3, 961--964 (1952; Zbl 0049.08301)] is applied to obtain the desired result. In [Arch. Math. 99, No. 1, 81--89 (2012; Zbl 1266.51017)], the authors have extended their characterization of spheres to one that includes hemispheres.