Algebraic and analytic properties of quasimetric spaces with dilations

Abstract

We provide an axiomatic approach to the theory of local tangent cones of regular sub-Riemannian manifolds and the differentiability of mappings between such spaces. This axiomatic approach relies on a notion of a dilation structure which is introduced in the general framework of quasimetric spaces. Considering quasimetrics allows us to cover a general case including, in particular, minimal smoothness assumptions on the vector fields defining the sub-Riemannian structure. It is important to note that the theory existing for metric spaces can not be directly extended to quasimetric spaces.