Global inversion and covering maps on length spaces Original Research Article

In order to obtain global inversion theorems for mappings between length metric spaces, we investigate sufficient conditions for a local homeomorphism to be a covering map in this context. We also provide an estimate of the domain of invertibility of a local homeomorphism around a point, in terms of a kind of lower scalar derivative. As a consequence, we obtain an invertibility result using an analog of the Hadamard integral condition in the frame of length spaces. Some applications are given to the case of local diffeomorphisms between Banach–Finsler manifolds. Finally, we derive a global inversion theorem for mappings between stratified groups.