Gauss equation and injectivity radii for subspaces in spaces of curvature bounded above (Q2494089)

Let \(M\) be an Alexandrov space with curvature bounded above \((CBA)\) by \(K\). One says that \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in \(M\) if there is a length-preserving map \(F:N\to M\) between intrinsic metric spaces, where \(N\) is complete, and the intrinsic distances \(d_N:=s\) and extrinsic distances \(d_M:=r\) satisfy \(s-r\leq\frac{A^2}{24}r^3+o(r^3)\) for all pairs of points having \(s\) sufficiently small. For Riemannian submanifolds, this is equivalent to a bound, \(| II| \leq A\), on the second fundamental form. If \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in \(M\), the authors prove that \(N\) is an Alexandrov space of \(CBA\) by \(K+A^2\). As an application, they give a sharp estimate on the injectivity radius \(\text{inj}_N\) of a subspace \(N\) of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in a \(CAT(K)\) space, namely \(\text{inj}_N \geq \min\{\frac{\pi}{\sqrt{K+A^2}},\frac{1}{2}c(A,K)\} \), where \(c(A,K)\) is the circumference of a circle of curvature \(A\) in the simply connected, two-dimensional space form of curvature \(K\). Even in the case of Riemannian manifolds, their estimates on the injectivity radius of a submanifold seem to be new. An interesting example to which the above results apply is discussed. As a consequence, if \(N\) is a subspace of extrinsic curvature \(\leq A\) in a \(CAT(-A^2)\) space \(M\), then \(N\) is \(CAT(0)\) and embedded. The proofs are based on \textit{A. Lytchak}'s advances in this area [Manuscr. Math. 115, 199--205 (2004; Zbl 1076.53043); ``Almost convex subsets'', Geom. Dedicata, to appear; ``Injectivity radius of non-proper spaces'', preprint] as well as on previous results of the authors [Differ. Geom. Appl. 6, 67--86 (1996; Zbl 0859.53053)].