Uniformly convex metric spaces (Q483954)

Let \((X,d)\) be a complete metric space. We say that \((X,d)\) admits \textit{midpoints} if, for every \(x,y\in X\), there is an \(m(x,y)\in X\) such that \(d(x,m(x,y))=d(y,m(x,y))=(1/2)d(x,y)\); note that such a space is \textit{geodesic}. Further, given \(p\in [1,\infty]\), define the \(p\)-\textit{mean} over \(R_+:=[0,\infty)\) as: \[ M^p(x,y)=[(1/2)(a^p+b^p)]^{1/p},\;a,b\in R_+, p\in [1,\infty), \] \[ M^\infty(x,y)=\max\{a,b\},\;a,b\in R_+. \] Suppose that the metric space \((X,d)\) admits midpoints. Then, it is called: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[a)] \textit{\(p\)-convex} (where \(p\in [1,\infty]\)) if, for each triple \(x,y,z\in X\), \(d(m(x,y),z)\leq M^p(d(x,z),d(y,z))\), \item[b)] \textit{strictly \(p\)-convex} (where \(p\in (1,\infty]\)), if the inequality is strict whenever \(x\neq y\), \item[c)] \textit{strictly 1-convex}, if the inequality is strict whenever \(d(x,y)> |d(x,z)-d(y,z)|\). \end{itemize}} In Section 1 of this paper, an overview of convexities of the metric is given. Section 2 is devoted to the relationships between convex subsets and reflexivity; in particular, it is proved that a nearly uniformly convex metric space is reflexive. In Section 3, the weak topologies are introduced either via convex sets or via asymptotic centers. Further, in Section 4, the obtained results are used to show existence of generalized barycenters. Finally, in Section A, some generalized convexities are introduced via \(L\)-means, where \(L:(0,\infty)\to (0,\infty)\) is a strictly increasing function such that \(L(1)=1\) and \(L(r)\to 0\) as \(r\to 0\).