Properties of CAT(k) Spaces
Let (X, d) be a CAT(k) space. Then the following properties hold:
- Given any two points x, y ∈ X (with d(x, y) < Dk if k > 0), there is a unique geodesic segment that joins x to y; moreover, this segment varies continuously as a function of its endpoints.
- Every local geodesic in X with length at most Dk is a geodesic.
- The d-balls in X of radius less than ½Dk are (geodesically) convex.
- The d-balls in X of radius less than Dk are contractible.
- Approximate midpoints are close to midpoints in the following sense: for every λ < Dk and every ε > 0, there exists a δ = δ(k, λ, ε) > 0 such that, if m is the midpoint of a geodesic segment from x to y with d(x, y) ≤ λ and
- then d(m, m′) < ε.
- It follows from these properties that, for k ≤ 0, the universal cover of every CAT(k) space is contractible; in particular, the higher homotopy groups of such a space are trivial. As the example of the n-sphere Sn shows, there is, in general, no hope for a CAT(k) space to be contractible if k is strictly positive.
- An n-dimensional CAT(k) space equipped with the n-dimensional Hausdorff measure satisfies the CD condition in the sense of Lott-Villani-Sturm.
Read more about this topic: CAT(k) Space
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