A geometric study of Wasserstein spaces: ultrametrics

Abstract: We study the geometry of the space of measures of a compact ultrametric space X, endowed with the L^p Wasserstein distance from optimal transportation. We show that the power p of this distance makes this Wasserstein space affinely isometric to a convex subset of l^1. As a consequence, it is connected by 1/p-H\"older arcs, but any a-H\"older arc with a>1/p must be constant. This result is obtained via a reformulation of the distance between two measures which is very specific to the case when X is ultrametric; howeverthanks to the Mendel-Naor Ultrametric Skeleton it has consequences even when X is a general compact metric space. More precisely, we use it to estimate the size of Wasserstein spaces, measured by an analogue of Hausdorff dimension that is adapted to (some) infinite-dimensional spaces. The result we get generalizes greatly our previous estimate that needed a strong rectifiability assumption. The proof of this estimate involves a structural theorem of independent interest: every ultrametric space contains large co-Lipschitz images of \emph{regular} ultrametric spaces, i.e. spaces of the form {1,...,k}^N with a natural ultrametric. We are also lead to an example of independent interest: a space of positive lower Minkowski dimension, all of whose proper closed subsets have vanishing lower Minkowski dimension.