A metric space (X,d) is said to be ℵ 0 -hyperconvex if given any finite number of balls B(x i ,r i ) in X such that d(x i ,x j )≤r i +r j for all i,j, their intersection ⋂ i B(x i ,r i ) is non-empty. The main result of this interesting paper gives us a characterization of ℵ 0 -hyperconvex metric spaces in terms of the important question of the extendibility of compact maps between metric spaces.
... [Show full abstract] Namely, X is an ℵ 0 -hyperconvex and complete metric space if, and only if, whenever Y is a metric space, T:X→Y is a uniformly continuous and compact map having a subadditive modulus of continuity, and Z is a metric space containing Y metrically, there exists a uniformly continuous and compact extension T Z :Z→Y of T that also has a subadditive modulus of continuity. This result can be seen as the metric counterpart of Theorem 4.2 of the article by J. Lindenstrauss [Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 68, 484-487 (1962; Zbl 0124.32601)]. As a by-product, it is also proved that an ℵ 0 -hyperconvex and bounded metric space X satisfies Schauder’s fixed point theorem in the sense that every compact map T:X→X has a fixed point in X.