Intrinsic quasi-metrics (Q2048990)

A quasi-metric is a function \(d\) that fulfills the conditions of a metric function, but instead of the triangle inequality itself, it only fulfills the inequality \(d(x, y) \leq c(d(x, z) + d(z, y))\), for some constant \(c>1\) independent of \(x,y,z\). This is a study of two quasi-metrics and of their relation to several hyperbolic-type metrics. With \(d_G(x)\) (for a proper domain \(G\subset {\mathbb R}^2\)) standing for \(d(x, \partial G) = \inf\{|x -z|\, |\, z \in \partial G\}\), the \textit{point pair function} \(p_G : G \times G \rightarrow [0, 1]\) can be defined by \(p_G (x, y) = \frac{|x - y|}{\sqrt{|x - y|^2 + 4d_G(x)d_G (y)}}\). For convex domains \(G\), defining, for every \(x\in G\), the non-empty set \(\tilde{X}:=\{\tilde{x}\in S^{n-1}(x, 2d_G(x))\, |\, \frac{x+\tilde{x}}{2}\in\partial G\}\), where \(S^{n-1} (x, r) = \{y \in \mathbb{R}^n\, |\, |x - y| = r\}\), one can define a quasi-metric \(w_G: G \times G \rightarrow [0, 1]\), by \(w_G(x, y) = \frac{|x - y|}{\min\{\inf_{\tilde{y}\in \tilde{Y}} |x -\tilde{y}|,\inf_{\tilde{x}\in \tilde{X}} |y -\tilde{x}|}\), for \(x, y \in G\). It is shown that both \(p_G\) and \(w_G\) are quasi metrics with \(c\leq \sqrt{2}\), and that \(p_G\) is a metric if \(G\) is an open sector with an angle \(\pi \leq \theta < 2\pi\). It is conjectured that \(w\) is a metric on the unit ball.