Embeddings of Lipschitz-free spaces into \(\ell_1\) (Q2219466)

Given a metric space \(M\), by \(\operatorname{Lip}_0(M)\) we denote the Banach space consisting of Lipschitz functions \(f:M\to \mathbb{R}\) which vanish at a common point \(0\in M\), endowed with the norm given by the Lipschitz constant. The \textit{Lipschitz-free space} \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) is the canonical predual of \(\operatorname{Lip}_0(M)\) (we refer to the paper for the definition and some more details). \textit{A. Godard} proved in [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 138, No. 12, 4311--4320 (2010; Zbl 1222.46010)] that \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) embeds isometrically into \(L_1\) if and only if \(M\) embeds isometrically into an \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree. In the present paper, the authors prove that for any complete metric space, the following conditions are equivalent: \begin{itemize} \item \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) embeds isometrically into \(\ell_1\); \item \(M\) is isometric to a subset \(S\) of an \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree with \(\lambda(S)=0\) and \(\lambda(\overline{\operatorname{Br}(S)})=0\) (where \(\lambda\) is length measure on the \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree and \(\operatorname{Br}(S)\) the set of branching points). \end{itemize} A characterization of complete metric spaces \(M\) for which \(\mathcal{F}(M)\) embeds almost isometrically into \(\ell_1\) is given as well. Finally, in the last section the authors characterize extreme points of \(B_{\mathcal{F}(M)}\) for metric spaces \(M\) which are complete subsets of an \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree, and they also give equivalent conditions for \(\mathcal{F}(M)\simeq \ell_1\) for proper metric spaces \(M\) which embed isometrically into an \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree.