The Analyst's traveling salesman theorem in graph inverse limits

Abstract: We prove a version of Peter Jones' Analyst's traveling salesman theorem in a class of highly non-Euclidean metric spaces introduced by Laakso and generalized by Cheeger-Kleiner. These spaces are constructed as inverse limits of metric graphs, and include examples which are doubling and have a Poincare inequality. We show that a set in one of these spaces is contained in a rectifiable curve if and only if it is quantitatively "flat" at most locations and scales, where flatness is measured with respect to so-called monotone geodesics. This provides a first examination of quantitative rectifiability within these spaces.