Severi-Bouligand tangents, Frenet frames and Riesz spaces (Q2254996)

Let \(n\) be a nonzero natural number and \(X\) be a nonempty subset of the Euclidian space \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\). The authors call a unit vector \(u\in\mathbb{R}^{n}\) a Severi-Bouligand tangent of \(X\) at some point \(x\in\mathbb{R}^{n}\) if there is a sequence \(\left\{ x_{i}\right\} \) in \(X\) for which the following conditions hold: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] \(x_{i}\neq x\) for all \(i\), \item [(2)] \(\lim_{i\rightarrow\infty}x_{i}=x\), and \item [(3)] \(\lim_{i\rightarrow\infty}\dfrac{x_{i}-x}{\left\| x_{i}-x\right\| }=u\). \end{itemize}} \noindent If the equality \[ X\cap\mathrm{conv}\left( x,x+ru\right) =\left\{ x\right\} \] holds for some \(r\in\left( 0,\infty\right) \), then \(u\) is said to be outgoing (here, \(\mathrm{conv}\) is used for convex hull). This definition is equivalent to an earlier definition given by \textit{F. Severi} in [Annales Soc. Polonaise 9, 97--108 (1931; JFM 57.0754.01)] and, independently, by \textit{G. Bouligand} [Roczn. Polsk. Towarz. Mat. 9, 32--41 (1931; Zbl 0003.10605); Annales Soc. Polonaise 9, 32--41 (1931; JFM 57.0097.01)]. In the paper under review, Severi-Bouligand tangents are applied to Riesz spaces (i.e., vector lattices). In this respect, the authors introduce the Riesz space \(\mathcal{R}\left( X\right) \) of piecewise linear functions on \(X\). Then they prove that the geometric properties of \(X\) are linked to the lattice-ordered algebraic properties of \(\mathcal{R}\left( X\right) \). Indeed, it turns out that \(X\) has an outgoing Severi-Bouligand tangent provided that \(\mathcal{R}\left( X\right) \) has a non-Archimedean principal quotient. The interested reader can find further amazing results in this remarkable paper.