Finite metric spaces of strictly negative type (Q1377510)

A metric space \((X,d)\) with \(| X| =n\) and distance matrix \(D\) is said to be of strictly negative type if (*) \({\mathbf x}D{\mathbf x}^T <0\) for all \({\mathbf x}=(x_1,\ldots x_n)\in {\mathbb R}^n\), with \({\mathbf x}\neq {\mathbf 0}\), \(\sum_{i=1}^n x_i=0\). It is called hypermetric if (*) holds for all \({\mathbf x}=(x_1,\ldots x_n)\in {\mathbb Z}^n\), with \({\mathbf x}\neq\mathbf{0}\), \(\sum_{i=1}^n x_i=1\). It is called regular if \(D\) is regular. Two points \(p,q\in X\) are called antipodal if \(d(p,q)\) is the diameter of \((X,d)\) and \(d(p,q)=d(p,r)+d(r,q)\) for all \(r\in X\). The authors prove several results about finite metric spaces, the most important being: (1) If a finite metric space \((X,d)\) is hypermetric and regular, then \((X,d)\) is of strictly negative type; (2) A finite isometric subspace of an \(l\)-sphere \({\mathbb S}^l\), \((X,d_{{\mathbb S}^l})\), is of strictly negative type if and only if it contains at most one pair of antipodal points. Together with results of \textit{J. J. Schoenberg} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 38, 787-793 (1937; Zbl 0017.36101)] and \textit{J. B. Kelly} [Lect. Notes Math. 490, 17-31 (1975; Zbl 0325.52021)], (1) implies that finite metric subspaces of \({\mathbb R}^l\) are of strictly negative type. The authors conjecture that the same holds true for finite metric subspaces of cardinality \(\geq 2\) of hyperbolic \(l\)-dimensional space.