Distances and Metric Spaces |
In General
* Remark on terminology: Following a common
usage in physics, I will reserve the word "metric" for a metric tensor (or tensor
field) g: V × V → \(\mathbb R\) on a vector space
V, while the type of function d: X × X →
\(\mathbb R\) on a set X defined below, that is often called "metric"
in mathematics, will be called a "distance" here.
* Idea: A distance is the most common way
of mathematically realizing the intuitive notion of closeness, although other definitions
are possible.
$ Pseudometric space: A pair (X,
d) with X a set and d a pseudodistance on X, a function
d: X × X → \(\mathbb R\) satisfying (1) d(p,
q) ≥ 0 and d(p, p) = 0, positive semi-definiteness;
(2) d(p, q) = d(q, p), symmetry;
(3) d(p, q) ≤ d(p, r)
+ d(r, q), triangle inequality;
> s.a. types of topologies.
* Remark: In such a "degenerate metric
space" two points x ≠ y with d(x, y)
= 0 have to be equidistant from all other zs, because of the triangle inequality,
and thus "indistinguishable"; This is not so in the Lorentzian case.
$ Distance: A positive-definite
pseudodistance d: X × X → \(\mathbb R\).
$ Metric space: A pair
(X, d), with d a distance on X.
* Relationships: It may arise from a
norm; In the topology induced by the distance, a metric space is always paracompact.
@ References: Kurepa 63;
Blumenthal 70;
Schreider 74;
Honig 95 [non-standard];
Deza & Deza 14 [encyclopedia].
@ And physics:
Goodson 16 [dynamical systems].
> And other structures:
see finsler geometry.
Related Notions and Results
> s.a. cover; entropy;
types of distances.
* Interesting maps: Isometries
and continuous maps (in the induced topology) are not so rich; Distance-decreasing
and λ-Lipschitz maps are more interesting.
* Baire category theorem:
A complete metric space is not the countable union of nowhere-dense sets;
This result can be stated as a theorem in Ramsey theory.
* Dilation of a map:
For f : X → Y, dil f :=
supx ≠ x' d(f(x),
f(x')) / d(x,x');
dil f := limε → 0
dil f |B(x,ε).
* Diameter: If A ⊂ X is a
subset of a metric space, its diameter is diam(A):= l.u.b.{d(x, y)
| x, y in A}.
* Equicontinuity: A family
\(\cal F\) of functions on a metric space (X, d) is equicontinuous
iff for each ε > 0 there is a δ > 0
such that for all x and x' in X, and f in
\(\cal F\), d(x, x') < δ implies
|f(x)−f(x')| < ε.
$ Outer measure of a set:
The d-dimensional outer measure of A ⊂ X is
md(A):=
limε → 0
inf ∑i (diam
Si)d,
over all countable coverings of A by closed spheres
Si of diameter < ε.
@ Other structure on metric spaces: Parthasarathy 67 [probability measures];
Penot JGP(07)
[tangent vectors and differentials of mappings].
New Distances out of Old
* Sum and sup: If
di are distances
on X (or even if all but one of them are pseudodistances),
then two new distances on X are
d(x, y):= ∑i ai di(x, y), with ai > 0 for all i , and d(x, y):= supi di(x, y) .
* On subsets A of X:
The induced distance dA(a,
b):= dX(a, b)
is always available; In addition, if dX is
induced by a length structure, we can choose to first induce a length structure on the subset,
d1,A(a, b):=
infγ {l(γ)
| a, b ∈ im(γ) ⊂ A}.
* On the Cartesian product of metric spaces:
If (M1, d1)
and (M2, d2)
are metric spaces, then a metric on M1 ×
M2 is d((x1,
x2),(y1,
y2)):= supi
di(xi,
yi).
Space of Metric Spaces > s.a. distance between
manifolds with metrics; Gromov-Hausdorff Space.
@ Measure: Kondo DG&A(05)
Generalizations
* Lorentzian metric space:
A pair (M, d), with d: M × M →
\(\mathbb R\)+ ∪ {∞}, such that (i) d(x,
y) > 0 implies d(y, x) = 0, so in particular
d(x, x) = 0 for all x; (ii) d(x,
y) d(y, z) > 0 implies that d(x,
z) ≥ d(x, y) + d(y, z),
the "reverse triangle inequality"; Examples of Lorentzian distance are the
timelike geodesic distance between two points, or the volume of their Alexandrov set.
* Probabilistic metric space:
A generalization of a metric space, where the distance has values in a set of probability distribution functions;
> see Wikipedia page.
* Quantum metric space: A C*-algebra (or more generally an order-unit
space) equipped with a generalization of the Lipschitz seminorm on functions which is defined by an ordinary metric.
@ Lorentzian distance:
Erkekoglu et al GRG(03) [level sets];
in Noldus CQG(04)gq/03;
Rennie & Whale a1903 [finiteness and continuity];
> s.a. causality conditions; distance
on a manifold with metric; world function.
@ Quantum metric space:
Rieffel MAMS(04)m.OA/00
[Gromov-Hausdorff distance];
Latrémolière a1506 [Gromov-Hausdorff propinquity].
@ Other:
Schweizer & Sklar 83 [probabilistic metric spaces];
Mizokami & Suwada T&A(05) [and their resolutions];
Kopperman et al T&A(09) [partial metric spaces, completion];
Antoniuk & Waszkiewicz T&A(11) [duality of generalized metric spaces].
> Bregman divergence:
see Wikipedia page.
A qué le llaman distancia, eso me habrán de explicar − Atahualpa Yupanqui
main page
– abbreviations
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– other sites – acknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 11 mar 2019