Asymptotic negative type properties of finite ultrametric spaces (Q333917)

The notion of \(p\)-negative type plays an important role in the theory of metric embeddings. For a metric space \((X,d)\) of \(p\)-negative type, \textit{I. Doust} and \textit{A. Weston} [J. Funct. Anal. 254, No. 9, 2336--2364 (2008; Zbl 1148.46012)] defined the \(p\)-negative type gap \(\Gamma_X(p)\) as the largest nonnegative constant satisfying \[ \frac{\Gamma}2\left(\sum_{k=1}^n|\zeta_i|\right)^2+\sum_{1\leq i,j\leq n} d(x_i , x_j)^p\zeta_i\zeta_j\leq 0 \] for all natural numbers \(n\), all \(x_1,\dots,x_n\in X\), and all real numbers \(\zeta_1,\dots,\zeta_n\) with \(\zeta_1+\dots+\zeta_n=0\). The main goal of the paper is the detailed study of constants \(\Gamma_X(p)\) in the case where \(X\) is a finite ultrametric space. One of the main results is the computation of the limit \(\lim_{p\to\infty}\frac{\Gamma_X(p)}{\alpha^p}\) for a finite ultrametric space with minimum non-zero distance \(\alpha\).