Infinitesimal affine geometry of metric spaces endowed with a dilatation structure. (English) Zbl 1273.53025

Buliga, Marius

Houston J. Math. 36, No. 1, 91-136 (2010).

Summary: We study algebraic and geometric properties of metric spaces endowed with dilatation structures, which are emergent during the passage through smaller and smaller scales. In the limit we obtain a generalization of metric affine geometry, endowed with a noncommutative vector addition operation and with a modified version of ratio of three collinear points. This is the geometry of normed affine group spaces, a category which contains the ones of homogeneous groups, Carnot groups or contractible groups. In this category group operations are not fundamental, but derived objects, and the generalization of affine geometry is not based on incidence relations.

MSC:

53C17	Sub-Riemannian geometry
22A10	Analysis on general topological groups
20F65	Geometric group theory
22E20	General properties and structure of other Lie groups

Keywords:

metric affine geometry