Extreme points in Lipschitz-free spaces over compact metric spaces (Q2071291)

Let \(M\) be a metric space with a distinguished point 0. The free space \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) over \(M\) is the natural isometric predual of the Banach space of Lipschitz functions on \(M\) which vanish at 0. This space allows canonical linearizations of Lipschitz maps between metric spaces and it has been studied quite intensively in the last twenty years. It turns out to be difficult to identify the extreme points of the unit ball of \(\mathcal{F}(M)\), if any. Natural candidates for such points are the ``molecules'', that is, the normalized differences of Dirac measures. After several partial results have been obtained by various authors, the interesting article under review provides a satisfactory theorem. Indeed, it is shown that if \(M\) is a proper metric space (that is, all bounded closed subsets are compact), in particular if \(M\) is metric compact, the extreme points are exactly the molecules which satisfy a strict triangle inequality. It follows that all extreme points are preserved extreme points and also exposed points. The proofs use the de Leeuw map and integral representations. It is still unknown if all extreme points of the unit ball of \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) are elementary molecules when \(M\) is an arbitrary metric space.