Staircase connected sets (Q2369926)

A compact set \(S\subset\mathbb{R}^2\) is staircase connected if every two points \(a,b\in S\) can be connected by a polygonal path with sides parallel to the coordinate axes, which is both \(x\)-monotone and \(y\)-monotone. Denote by \(\xi(a, b)\) the smallest number of edges of such a path; \(\xi(\cdot,\cdot)\) is an integer-valued metric on \(S\). The authors investigate this metric and introduce stars and kernels. Their main result is that the \(r\)-kernel, i.e. the set of all points in \(S\) from which any other point of \(S\) can be reached by a staircase path of at most \(r\) edges, is nonempty, compact, and staircase connected provided \(r\geq{1\over 2}\) (staircase diameter of \(S\)) \(+1\).