Finite quasihypermetric spaces

Let (X, d) be a compact metric space and let (X) denote the space of all finite signed Borel measures on X. Define I: (X) → ℝ by I(μ) = ∫ _X ∫ _X d(x, y)dμ(x)dμ(y), and set M(X) = sup I(μ), where μ ranges over the collection of measures in (X) of total mass 1. The space (X, d) is quasihypermetric if I(μ) ≦ 0 for all measures μ in (X) of total mass 0 and is strictly quasihypermetric if in addition the equality I(μ) = 0 holds amongst measures μ of mass 0 only for the zero measure. This paper explores the constant M(X) and other geometric aspects of X in the case when the space X is finite, focusing first on the significance of the maximal strictly quasihypermetric subspaces of a given finite quasihypermetric space and second on the class of finite metric spaces which are L ¹-embeddable. While most of the results are for finite spaces, several apply also in the general compact case. The analysis builds upon earlier more general work of the authors 11] 13].