Discrete length-volume inequalities and lower volume bounds in metric spaces

Analysis on metric spaces (30L99) Inequalities and extremum problems involving convexity in convex geometry (52A40) Packing and covering in (n) dimensions (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C17) Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces (53C23)

Abstract: A theorem of W. Derrick ensures that the volume of any Riemannian cube

([0, 1]^{n}, g)

is bounded below by the product of the distances between opposite codimension-1 faces. In this paper, we establish a discrete analog of Derrick's inequality for weighted open covers of the cube

[0, 1]^{n}

, which is motivated by a question about lower volume bounds in metric spaces. Our main theorem generalizes a previous result of the author, which gave a combinatorial version of Derrick's inequality and was used in the analysis of boundaries of hyperbolic groups. As an application, we answer a question of Y. Burago and V. Zalgaller about length-volume inequalities for pseudometrics on the unit cube.

Review text

The author establishes a discrete analog of Derrick's inequality for weighted open covers of the \(n\)-cube by generalizing his previous work [J. Differ. Geom. 100, No. 2, 349--388 (2015; Zbl 1328.53052)]. It is given a Riemannian metric \(g\) on the \(n\)-dimensional unit cube \([0, 1]^n\), and for each open cover \(\mathcal{U}=\{U_i, i\in I\}\) of \([0, 1]^n\) a weight function \(\omega:I\to [0, \infty)\), where \(\omega(i)\) is the weight of \(U_i\). The discrete distance of two elements \(A,B \in[0, 1]^n\) is defined by the infimum of the lengths of connecting chains \(U_{i_j}\), where \(A\in U_{i_1}\) and \(B\in U_{i_m}\) \[ \mathrm{dist}_{\omega}(A,B)=\inf\{\sum_j \omega(i_j): U_{i_1}, \ldots, U_{i_m} \text{ chain connecting \(A\) and \(B\)} \}. \] In the main Theorem 1.4 the author proves that if \(d_k=\mathrm{dist}_{\omega}(F_k, F'_k)\), \(1\leq k\leq n\), denotes the distance of pairs of opposite codimension-one faces \(F_k,F'_k\) of \([0,1]^n\), then \[ \sum_{i\in I} \omega(i)^n\geq d_1\ldots d_n. \] Theorem 1.5 states a generalization of Theorem 1.4 by taking possibly different weights \(\omega_k\) for each \(k\) and \(d_k\) w.r.t. \(\omega_k\) obtaining \(\sum_i(\prod_{k=1}^n \omega_k(i))\geq d_1\ldots d_k\). The proof is inspired on ideas on squares tilings, that associates to each triangulation of a quadrilateral \(Q\) a tiling of a rectangle by squares with a suitable correspondence of edges, vertices and corners, where the size of the squares are solutions of a discrete version of a extermal problem for length in conformal function theory. Theorem 1.5 is first shown to be true in case no \(U_i\) intersects simultaneously \(F_k, F'_k\) for some \(k\) (already assuming the cover to be a finite one) and from the fact that \(d_k\leq d_k(i)+\omega_k(i)\) where \(d_k(i)\) is the distance \( \mathrm{dist}_{\omega_k}\) of \(F_k\) to \(U_i\), the author uses this \(d_k(i)\) to built a \(n\)-rectangle \(R_i\) with side length \(\omega_k(i)\) proxy to \(U_i\) with similar combinatorial properties. The general case also follows by slightly modifying the cover and the weights reducing the proof to the first case. Using a partition of the unity subordinated to \(\mathcal{U}\), the author builds a continuous map \(\phi\) from \([0,1]^n\) to the nerve \(Ner(\mathcal{U})\) of the cover, that is a complex, the union of all the \(m\)-dimensional simplex in \(\mathbb{R}^M\) (of canonic basis \(e_1, \ldots, e_M\) where \(m\leq M\)) defined by the convex hull generated by \(e_{i_j}\), \(j=i_0,\ldots, i_m\) whenever \(\bigcap_{j=i_0,\ldots, i_m}U_j\) is not empty. Then the nerve \(Ner(\mathcal{U})\) is mapped into the union of rectangles \(\bigcup_i R_i\) by using a barycentric subdivision of the nerve and a map sending each vertex to a well chosen point of the corresponding intersection of the rectangles according a rule, and then extended to be affine on each simplex, and finally shown the image contains \(\prod_k[0, d_k]\), using some topological result based on a Brouwer fixed point theorem. In Corollary 4.2 a sharp lower bound for the \(n\)-dimensional Hausdorff content of the image of the \(n\)-cube by any continuous function \(g:[0,1]^n\to X\) into a (pseudo)metric space \((X,d)\) is derived, namely \[ \mathcal{H}_n^{\infty} (g( [0,1]^n))\geq \prod_{k=1}^n \mathrm{dist}(g(F_k),g(F'_k)), \] with equality if and only if \(d=l_{\infty}\) and \(g\) is the identity map. As a consequence the author concludes this inequality is valid for the Hausdorff content but not to the Hausdorff measure, giving an answer to a question of \textit{Yu. D. Burago} and \textit{V. A. Zalgaller} [Geometric inequalities. Transl. from the Russian by A. B. Sossinsky. Berlin etc.: Springer-Verlag (1988; Zbl 0633.53002)] for a pseudometric \(\rho\) on \([0,1]^n\) defining a weaker topology than the Euclidean one. Finally, metric spaces \((X,d)\) with fat \(n\)-cubes are introduced and some connectivity conditions are defined that ensure Euclidean-type lower volume bounds, that is \(\mathcal{H}^{\infty}_n(B(x,r))\gtrsim r^n\), for \(r\leq \mathrm{diam}(X)\). Some further conditions of discrete nature are stated that guarantee the existence of a metric \(\rho\) on \(X\) satisfying \(\rho\approx d^{1/\epsilon}\). As an application, conditions are stated for a homeomorphic \(X\) to the 2-sphere to be a quasi-sphere.

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