A product construction for hyperbolic metric spaces (Q819206)

The authors endow the product \(Y= X_1\times X_2\) of two pointed metric spaces \((X_1, o_1)\) and \((X_2, o_2)\) with the metric \(|(x_1,x_2)(x_1', x_2')|= \max\{|x_1 x_1'|,|x_2 x_2'|\}\) and consider the subspaces \[ Y_{\Delta,o}:= \{(x_1, x_2)\in Y\mid|o_1 x_1|\text{ differs from }|o_2 x_2|\text{ by at most }\Delta\}. \] If the two spaces \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) are \(\delta\)-hyperbolic metric spaces [see \textit{M. Gromov}, Hyperbolic groups, Essays in group theory, Math. Sci. Res. Inst. Publ., Vol. 8, Springer, New York, 75--263 (1987; Zbl 0634.20015)], the authors prove that the subspaces \(Y_{\Delta,o}\) are \(\delta'\)-hyperbolic, for a positive number \(\delta'\) that depends only on \(\delta\) and \(\Delta\). The authors also analyze the geodesic structure and the space at infinity for the spaces \(Y_{\Delta,o}\). They show that, if the two spaces \(X_1\) and \(X_2\) are roughly geodesic, then, for sufficiently large \(\Delta\), the spaces \(Y_{\Delta,o}\) are also roughly geodesic. They also show that, for sufficiently large \(\Delta\), the space at infinity of \(Y_{\Delta,o}\) is homeomorphic to the topological product of the spaces at infinity for \(X_1\) and \(X_2\). The authors carry out similar analyses when in the definition of \(Y_{\Delta,o}\) one uses, rather than the distance to the base point \(o= (o_1,o_2)\), the Busemann function associated with the points \(o=(o_1,o_2)\) and a point \(\xi= (\xi_1,\xi_2)\) at infinity.