Gluing $CAT(0)$ domains

Abstract

In this work we describe a class of subsets of the Euclidean plane which, with the induced length metric, are locally $CAT(0)$ spaces and we show that the gluing of two such subsets along a piece of their boundary is again a locally $CAT(0)$ space provided that the sum of the signed curvatures at every gluing point is non-positive. A generalization to subsets of smooth Riemannian surfaces of curvature $k\le 0$ is given.

32 pages, 9 figures