Complex surfaces with CAT(0) metrics (Q659924)

A ``polyhedral Kähler manifold'' (PK manifold) is a PL manifold \(M^{2n}\) with a flat metric with singularities and a compatible parallel complex structure defined outside of metric singularities. The metric should satisfy two conditions: 1. \(M^{2n}\) admits a simplicial decomposition such that the metric restricts to a flat Euclidean metric on each simplex. The singular locus of the metric is then a union of several \((2n-2)\)-dimensional simplexes. 2. Every \((2n-2)\)-dimensional simplex contained in the singular locus of the metric is holomorphic with respect to the complex structure on each top dimensional simplex containing it. A (geodesic) triangle \(\Delta\) in \(M\) is a union of geodesic segments joining three points of \(M\). The comparison triangle of \(\Delta\) in the flat Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\) is the triangle \(\widetilde{\Delta}\) with edges of the same length as in \(\Delta\). The triangle \(\Delta\) is said to satisfy the \(\text{CAT}(0)\) inequality if \(d(x,y)\leq d(\widetilde{x},\widetilde{y})\) holds for all \(x,y\in\Delta\) and the corresponding points \(\widetilde {x},\widetilde{y}\in\widetilde{\Delta}\). The metric is called locally \(\text{CAT}(0)\) if each point of \(M\) has a neighborhood in which all geodesic triangles satisfy the \(\text{CAT}(0)\) inequality. The author gives criteria on the singularities of PK metrics implying that the metric is locally \(\text{CAT}(0)\), and uses them to construct several families of locally \(\text{CAT}(0)\) orbifold metrics on \(\mathbb{CP}^{2}\). In particular, he produces a locally \(\text{CAT} (0)\) polyhedral metric on a compact complex hyperbolic \(2\)-ball quotient. Further, several families of complex surfaces of type \(K(\pi,1)\) are constructed.