Characterizing hyperbolic spaces and real trees (Q735052)

A geodesic metric space \(X\) is called hyperbolic (or \(\delta\)-hyperbolic) if there exists \(\delta \geq 0\) such that every geodesic triangle in \(X\) is \(\delta\)-thin (= satisfies the Rips condition with constant \(\delta\)). Gromov showed that there exists \(\epsilon_0 > 0\) such that if every sufficiently large triangle \(T\) in \(X\) satisfies the Rips condition with constant \(\epsilon_0\cdot\mathrm{pr}(T)\), where \(\mathrm{pr}(T)\) denotes the perimeter of \(T\), then \(X\) is hyperbolic. The authors give a new elementary proof of this fact which, in particular, provides an explicit estimate for \(\epsilon_0\). Related results for real trees and asymptotic cones are also discussed.