Characterizing the metric compactification of \(L_p\) spaces by random measures (Q2175488)

The metric compactification \(\overline{X}^h\) of a metric space \((X,d)\) is defined as the pointwise closure of the family of \(1\)-Lipschitz functions \(\{h_y:y\in X\}\), where \(h_y(\cdot)=d(\cdot,y)-d(x_0,y)\) and \(x_0\in X\) is a fixed arbitrary point. In the case in which \(X\) is proper and geodesic, the injection \(y\mapsto h_y\) is a continuous embedding and \(\overline{X}^h\) coincides with Gromov's horofunction compactification of \(X\). For a general metric space \(X\), the map \(y\mapsto h_y\) is only a continuous injection so \(\overline{X}^h\) is a compactification of \(X\) in a weaker sense. The paper provides a complete characterization of the metric compactification of non-atomic \(L_p\) spaces for \(1\leq p<\infty\), showing that the elements of \(\overline{L_p}^h\) are represented by means of random measures on the compact Polish space \(\overline{\mathbb{R}}^h\). That representation should be compared to the one of \(\overline{\ell_p}^h\) obtained by the author in [Can. Math. Bull. 62, No. 3, 491--507 (2019; Zbl 1435.54009)]. As an application, the paper presents new proofs of the \(L_p\)-mean ergodic theorem for \(1<p<\infty\) and \textit{D. E. Alspach}'s example of an isometry with no fixed points [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 82, 423--424 (1981; Zbl 0468.47036)].