A strong fixed point theorem (Q2215625)

In proving most of the metrical fixed point theorems for self mappings \(f: X\rightarrow X\) defined on a (generalized) metric space \((X,d)\), one of the key tools is to show that the sequence \(\{x_n\}\) defined by Picard iteration associated to \(f\), that is, \[ x_{n}=f^n(x_0),\,n=1,2,\dots, \quad x_0\in X, \] is a Cauchy sequence. Such a property, together with a certain type of completeness of the space, does ensure the existence of an \(x^*\in X\) which is the limit in some sense of \(\{x_n\}\). These limit points \(x^*\) are the candidates for the fixed points of \(f\) (whose existence has to be proven). Starting from this fact, in the paper some general Cauchy tests are obtained for sequences in a dislocated metric space (\(d\)-metric space) \((X,p)\), in the sense of \textit{P. Hitzler} and \textit{A. K. Seda} [J. Electr. Eng. 51, No. 12/s, 3--7 (2000; Zbl 0968.54001)]. These tests are based on two important assumptions: 1) \(\{x_n\}\) is an \textit{approximate sequence}, that is, \[ \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} p(x_{n+1},x_n)=0; \] 2) \(\{x_n\}\) satisfies a kind of \textit{Meir-Keeler condition}, i.e., for each \(\alpha>0\) there exist \(\varepsilon>0\) and \(n_0\in\mathbb{N}\) such that for all \(m,n>n_0\), \(\alpha-\varepsilon<p(x_n,x_m)<\alpha+\varepsilon\) implies \(p(x_{n+1},x_{m+1})\leq \alpha\). With this terminology, Lemma 2.3 reads as follows: Assume that \(p\) is a \(d\)-metric for \(X\), and let \(\{x_n\}_{n=0}^{\infty}\) be an approximate sequence of points of \(X\) which satisfies the Meir-Keeler condition above. Then \(\lim\limits_{n,m\rightarrow \infty}p(x_n,x_m)=0\), and \(\lim\limits_{n\rightarrow \infty}p(x_n,x)=p(x,x)=0\) for some \(x\in X\) provided that \((X,p)\) is \(0\)-complete. By using Lemma 2.3, the author derives a strong tool in proving fixed point theorems (Theorem 2.7) and then uses it to prove the main result of the paper (Theorem 2.9), which is a general fixed point theorem in a \(d\)-metric space \((X,p)\) for single-valued self mappings \(f\) satisfying the following Meir-Keeler type contraction condition: for each \(\alpha>0\) there exists an \(\varepsilon>0\) such that \(\alpha-\varepsilon<p(y,x)<\alpha+\varepsilon\) yields \(p(f y,f x)\leq \alpha\), \(x,y\in X\). Similar results are also obtained for the case of cyclic mappings and for the common fixed point problem, by appropriately adapting Lemma 2.3 to the respective context.