A finiteness principle for distance functions on Riemannian surfaces with H\"older continuous curvature

Abstract

We study distance functions from geodesics to points on Riemannian surfaces with H\"older continuous Gauss curvature, and prove a finiteness principle in the spirit of Whitney extension theory for such functions. Our result can be viewed as a finiteness principle for isometric embedding of a certain type of metric spaces into Riemannian surfaces, with control over the H\"older seminorm of the Gauss curvature.