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Questions tagged [metric-spaces]

A metric space is a pair $(X,d)$, where $X$ is a set and $d:X \times X \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies the following conditions for all $x,y,z \in X$. (Symmetry) $d(x,y)=d(y,x)$. (Identity of Indiscernibles) $d(x,y)=0$ if and only if $x=y$. (Triangle Inequality) $d(x,y)+d(y,z) \geq d(x,z)$.

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Given a metric space $X$, is there a natural way to view the quasi-isometry group $QI(X)$ as a topological group?

Given a metric space $(X,d)$, we define $QI(X)$ as the set of quasi-isometries $f : X \to X$, modulo the equivalence relation $$ f \sim g \ \ \ \ \text{ if and only if } \ \ \ \sup_{x \in X} \ d(f(x)...
jpmacmanus's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
500 views

Is there an 'unnatural' topological construction of an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic?

It's well known that while there is a natural topological construction of a nearly algebraically closed field of characteristic $0$, algebraically closed fields of positive characteristic seemingly ...
James E Hanson's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
136 views

For $\mathbb R^n \times Q \cong \mathbb R^m \times Q $ must $n = m$? ($Q$ is the Hilbert cube)

There are several theorems describing the topology on hyperspaces of convex subsets of $\mathbb R^n$ under the Hausdorff metric. For example Antonyan and Jonard-Pérez prove the space of compact convex ...
Daron's user avatar
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1 answer
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Metric for measuring linearity of finite set of points in $R^2$

Suppose one has $n > 2$ points in $R^2$, and one wants to measure "how linear" they are. I want a metric such that (a) if all the points are in fact on the same line, the metric gives 1, (...
Michael Mc Gettrick's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
98 views

Is every subgroup closed in this complete, nondiscrete topological group?

Another question on Mathoverflow (here: Complete topological groups in which all subgroups are closed) asks if there exists a complete, nondiscrete topological group $G$ such that all subgroups of $G$...
Nick Belane's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
124 views

$d(x,y) = \min\{|x_1−y_1|+|x_2−y_2|, 1−|x_1−y_1|+|x_2−(1−y_2)|\}$ defines a metric on $[0,1)\times[0,1]$? [closed]

For $x,y \in [0,1)\times[0,1]$, let $d(x,y)$ be the minimum of $|x_1−y_1|+|x_2−y_2|$ and $1−|x_1−y_1|+|x_2−(1−y_2)|$. Prove or disprove that $d$ is a metric. I was unable to find a counterexample to ...
Aleph-null's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
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Embeddings of pseudo metric spaces into seminormed Spaces

There is a theorem stating that every metric space embeds isometrically into $\ell _{\infty}$. My question: is there a generalized result for pseudo metric spaces embedding isometrically into semi-...
DJ Forklift's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
97 views

Inner regularity property of covering number of metric spaces

Let $(X,d)$ be a complete metric space and $n\in\mathbb N$. Suppose that every finite subset $F\subset X$ can be covered by $n$ closed balls of $X$ (that is, $N(Y,d,1)\le n$, in terms of covering ...
Pietro Majer's user avatar
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3 votes
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Loop space, parametrization equivalence and the issue of giving a topology

This question has been motivated by p.165 of this book. As in the cited link above, we consider the following space of paraemtrized piecewise $C^1$ loops \begin{equation} X:= \Bigl\{ x : [0,1] \to \...
Isaac's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
33 views

Obtaining the geodesic extension property by embedding in a larger space

Suppose $(X,d)$ is a Hadamard space. By considering basic examples like a compact interval in $\mathbb{R}$ or a closed unit ball in Hilbert space, $X$ need not have the geodesic extension property (...
E G's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
142 views

Is completion of measures equivalent to completion of sigma algebras as metric spaces with respect to measures?

An alternative way to get the Lebesgue $\sigma $-algebra $\mathcal{L} $ from the Borel algebra $B$ is to set $E\sim J$ iff $d(E,J):=\lambda(E\mathbin\Delta J)=0$ for $E,J\in B$. Then the completion of ...
DJ Forklift's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
49 views

Is any submetrizable linear topology linearly submetrizable?

Let $E$ be a vector space. A topology $\tau$ on $E$ is called (linearly) submetrizable if there is a (linear) metrizable topology $\pi$ on $E$ which is weaker than $\tau$, i.e. $\pi\subset\tau$. Is ...
erz's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Upper bound on the Levy-Prokhorov distance between the distributions of continuous Gaussian processes in terms of their covariances

Denote by $d$ the supremum metric on the space $C[0,T]$ of continuous real-valued functions on $[0,T]$: $$ d(f,g) = \sup_{t \in [0,T]} |f(t)-g(t)|. $$ Let $\rho$ be the Levy-Prokhorov metric on the ...
ssss nnnn's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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Is the statement that every convex complete metric space has midpoints equivalent to the axiom of dependent choice (DC)?

We say that a point $m$ is between points $p$ and $q$ of a metric space $(M, d)$ if $d(p, q) = d(p, m) + d(m, q)$ and $p ≠ m ≠ q$. Furthermore, if the equality $d(p, m) = d(m, q)$ holds for $m$, we ...
Juan Atacama's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
557 views

Is it possible to prove that any two points of a convex complete metric space are connected by some metric segment without the axiom of choice?

We say that a point $m$ is between points $p$ and $q$ of a metric space $(M, d)$ if $d(p, q) = d(p, m) + d(m, q)$ and $p ≠ m ≠ q$. A metric space $M$ is said to be metrically convex if given any two ...
Juan Atacama's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
37 views

Does smallness of Gromov-Hausdorff distance on scale 2 imply smallness on GH distance on scale 1?

Let $(M,g)$ be a Riemannian manifold and $C(Y)$ be a metric cone over $Y$. Let $B_r$ denote the geodesic ball of radius $r$ centered at a fixed point $x$ in $M$ and $C_r$ denote the metric ball of ...
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8 votes
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Do the $\ell^{\infty}$ and $\ell^1$ norms yield minimal doubling constants amongst all norms on $\mathbb{R}^n$?

Setting: Let $X:=\mathbb{R}^n$ for some positive integer $n$. For each $1\le p\le \infty$ let $d_p$ denote the metric induced by the $\ell^p_n$ norm thereon. Note that, the doubling constant of a ...
ABIM's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
143 views

radius-diameter relationship of balls in metric spaces

What necessary and sufficient conditions must a metric $d$ of a metric space $(X,d)$ fulfill so that the open balls of radius $r$ have diameter $2r$?
Wēr's user avatar
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Random covering on rectangles

Let $\mathrm{Rect}$ denote the class of axis-parallel rectangles $r: \mathbb{R}^2 \to \{0,1\}$, assigning $1$ if the point is inside the rectangle and $0$ otherwise. Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a ...
Saginus's user avatar
  • 159
2 votes
1 answer
236 views

A sensible topology on the space of continuous linear maps between Fréchet spaces

Let $V_1$ and $V_2$ be Fréchet spaces. Let $\{ \lVert \cdot \rVert_{1,n} \}_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ be a family of seminorms for $V_1$ and similarly $\{ \lVert \cdot \rVert_{2,n} \}_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ ...
Isaac's user avatar
  • 3,477
2 votes
1 answer
92 views

Skorokhod-like construction for sequences of random probability measures

Let $(X_i)$ be a sequence of i.i.d. random vectors with distribution $P$ on $[0,1]^d$. Let $D \equiv D([0,1]^d)$ be the multivariate Skorokhod space, equiped with a metric $d$ that makes it Polish. ...
Jack London's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
329 views

Is there a metric compactification that doesn't create new paths?

Every separable metric space $A$ has a metrizable compactification, i.e. a compact metrizable space $X$ for which $A$ embeds topologically as a dense subspace of $X$. There are many approaches to ...
Jeremy Brazas's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
483 views

Can you always extend an isometry of a subset of a Hilbert Space to the whole space?

I remember that I read somewhere that the following theorem is true: Let $A\subseteq H$ be a subset of a real Hilbert space $H$ and let $f : A \to A$ be a distance-preserving bijection, i.e. a ...
Cosine's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
100 views

Which posets arise from closed, transitive relations?

This a follow up question of Chain components and posets. Let $X$ be a compact metric space and $R\subset X^2$ a closed, transitive relation. Denote by $|R|=\{x\in X: xR x\}$ the diagonal of $R$. The ...
Marco Farotti's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
879 views

Partition of unity without AC

Several existence theorems for partition of unity are known. For example (source), Proposition 3.1. If $(X,\tau)$ is a paracompact topological space, then for every open cover $\{U_i \subset X\}_{i \...
BonBon's user avatar
  • 223
2 votes
1 answer
162 views

A topological characterization of trees?

Motivated by this complex dynamics question: Let $X$ be a compact, path-connected metric space. Suppose there exist an integer $N\geq 2$ and distinct points $p_1,\dots,p_N\in X$ such that no proper ...
KhashF's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
42 views

Genaralizing the metric expression present in the quadrilateral inequality

Let $(X, d)$ be a metric space. In Sato - An alternative proof of Berg and Nikolaev’s characterization of CAT(0)-spaces via quadrilateral inequality it is stated that if $X$ is a geodesic space, then ...
Kacper Kurowski's user avatar
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0 answers
38 views

Definition of semi-metric for empirical process theory

In the following lecture notes on empirical processes (https://www.stat.columbia.edu/~bodhi/Talks/Emp-Proc-Lecture-Notes.pdf) a semi-metric space $(\Theta, d)$ is defined in the following way: for any ...
Stan's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
269 views

Does complete and separable Wasserstein space imply a complete base space?

Also asked on math.SE. Let $(Z,d)$ be a metric space, and for $p\geq 1$, consider a metric space $(W_p,d_{W_p})$ defined by The Wasserstein Space $\begin{align}W_p = \{\mu|\mu\textrm{ is a Borel ...
Kaira's user avatar
  • 305
0 votes
0 answers
55 views

Any useful bases for the topology induced by the $t$-Wasserstein distance?

I am working on $\mathbb R ^d$ equipped with the usual Euclidean metric. I know of one nice base for $\mathcal W _t$, namely: $$\left\{ B_p (r) : r>0, p=\sum_{i=1} ^n \alpha_i \delta_{x_i},\text{ ...
J.R.'s user avatar
  • 291
0 votes
0 answers
77 views

Wasserstein space isomorphic to original space?

Is there a complete measurable metric space $(X,d)$ for which its $p$-Wasserstein space $W(X)$ is isometrically isomorphic to $(X,d)$ for some $p \in [1,\infty]$? Note that there is a canonical non-...
Florentin Münch's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
79 views

Hausdorff-Lipschitz continuity of cone correspondence

Let $\mathbb{R}_+$ denote the strictly positive real numbers, let $\mathcal{X} \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ and $\mathcal{P} \subset \mathbb{R}^m$ be compact and convex subsets, let \begin{equation} f: \...
Heinrich A's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
116 views

For Polish $X,Y$, $L^p(X,Y)$ is separable

Let $X$ and $Y$ be Polish spaces. Equip $X$ with a Borel probability measure $\mu_X$ and $Y$ with a metric $d_Y$. We can define the $L^p$ space as follows: Definition. Define $\begin{align}L^p(X,Y) = \...
Kaira's user avatar
  • 305
-3 votes
1 answer
211 views

Can a Polish space have two different topologies?

Let $X$ be a Polish space with the compatible metric being $d_1$. So $(X,d_1)$ is a separable complete metric space, and the topology is generated by $d_1$. Can there be a metric $d_2$ such that $(X,...
J.R.'s user avatar
  • 291
4 votes
1 answer
224 views

More than one recurrence point (Birkhoff)

Birkhoff's recurrence theorem states that for a compact metric space $X$ and a continuous function $T: X\rightarrow X$, there is a recurrence point $x\in X$; the latter means that for any ...
Sam Sanders's user avatar
  • 4,359
1 vote
1 answer
82 views

Lipschitz approximation of a probability measure with finite $1$-st moment by the ones with finite $p$-th moment

For $p \in [1, \infty)$, let $\mathcal P_p (\mathbb{R^d})$ be the space of Borel probability measures on $\mathbb R^d$ with finite $p$-th moment. We endow $\mathcal P_p (\mathbb{R^d})$ with the ...
Akira's user avatar
  • 835
1 vote
1 answer
132 views

Variants of Dirichlet-type function as a pointwise limit of continuous functions

Problem Suppose $f$ is a function from a complete metric space $X$ to a metric space $Y$, and suppose $Y$ has points $y_{0}$, $y_{1}$ such that the subsets $f^{-1}(y_{0})$ and $f^{-1}(y_{1})$ are both ...
hmeng's user avatar
  • 129
3 votes
0 answers
132 views

Is the Schwartz space a tame Frechet space?

I ran into the following definition of tame Frechet spaces and Nash-Moser therem. It says that the space of smooth functions on a compact manifold is tame Frechet. However, I wonder if The Schwartz ...
Isaac's user avatar
  • 3,477
-2 votes
1 answer
141 views

Interpretation and validity of modified Heisenberg uncertainty principle in a metric context? [closed]

Considering the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states $\Delta x \cdot \Delta p \geq h$, I've explored a modified version by computing $(\Delta x + 1)(\Delta p + 1) \geq \Delta x \cdot \Delta ...
mathoverflowUser's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
184 views

When is a distance space dominated by a metric space?

A distance space is a pair $(X,d)$ where $X$ is a set and $d:X \times X \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ is a symmetric, non-negative map such that $d(x,x)=0$ for all $x \in X$. These are sometimes called semi-...
David Bryant's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
616 views

The set of continuous bounded functions $f:X\to Y$ is dense in $L^p(X,Y)$ where $X,Y$ are Polish

It is well known that the set of real-valued continuous functions with compact support is dense in $L^p(\mu)$ where $\mu$ is a Radon measure (see e.g. [Folland, Proposition 7.9]) Clearly, the set of ...
Kaira's user avatar
  • 305
2 votes
0 answers
187 views

Statistical invariants of Riemannian manifolds

$\DeclareMathOperator\diam{diam}\DeclareMathOperator\rad{rad}\DeclareMathOperator\iso{iso}\DeclareMathOperator\com{com}\DeclareMathOperator\con{con}$A cheap way of defining invariants of Riemannian ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 159
2 votes
0 answers
95 views

Can we control the Wasserstein metric between $\mu$ and $\nu$ by their moment difference?

Fix $p \in [1, \infty)$. Let $(\mathcal P_p(\mathbb R^d), W_p)$ be the Wasserstein space of all Borel probability measures on $\mathbb R^d$ with finite $p$-th moment. Let $D_p$ be the collection of ...
Analyst's user avatar
  • 657
0 votes
0 answers
117 views

Example of a metrizable space that is not an ANR

I have been looking for an example of a metrizable space that is not an absolute neighborhood retract (ANR). Recall that a metrizable space $X$ is called an ANR if there exists an open set $U$ in a ...
Katrina's user avatar
  • 506
3 votes
1 answer
161 views

Equivalent definition for Skorokhod metric

I have a question about the Skorokod distance on the space $\mathcal{D}([0,1],\mathbb{R})$: $$ d(X,Y):= \inf_{\lambda \in \Lambda}\left( \sup_{t\in [0,1]}|t-\lambda(t)|\vee \sup_{t\in [0,1]}|X(t)-Y(\...
user1598's user avatar
  • 177
32 votes
3 answers
2k views

A funny metric over $\mathbb{N}$

$\DeclareMathOperator{\lcm}{lcm}$ Fiddling with numbers I realized that for positive integers $x$ and $y$, the quantity $$\Vert x,y \Vert=\frac{\lcm(x,y)}{\gcd(x,y)}$$ has these properties: $\Vert x,...
aleph2's user avatar
  • 637
0 votes
1 answer
94 views

Kähler metric on the projective space

"Is there a Kähler metric on the complex projective space $\mathbb {P} ^n(\mathbb {C} ) $ different from the Fubini-Study metric?
Samir's user avatar
  • 43
0 votes
0 answers
97 views

What is a metric for weak convergence of finite measures on a non compact, complete and separable metric space?

Consider the set of finite positive measures on a complete, separable, but not compact, metric space $S$, endowed with the topology under which a sequence of finite positive measures $\{\mu_n\}$ ...
CCC's user avatar
  • 1