Critical values and level sets of distance functions in Riemannian, Alexandrov and Minkowski spaces

Let $F \subset \R^n$ be a closed set and $n=2$ or $n=3$. S. Ferry (1975) proved that then, for almost all $r>0$, the level set (distance sphere, $r$-boundary) $S_r(F):= \{x \in \R^n: \dist(x,F) = r\}$ is a topological $(n-1)$-dimensional manifold. This result was improved by J.H.G. Fu (1985). We show that Ferry's result is an easy consequence of the only fact that the distance function $d(x)= \dist(x,F)$ is locally DC and has no stationary point in $\R^n\setminus F$. Using this observation, we show that Ferry's (and even Fu's) result extends to sufficiently smooth normed linear spaces $X$ with $\dim X \in \{2,3\}$ (e.g., to $\ell^p_n, n=2,3, p\geq 2$), which improves and generalizes a result of R. Gariepy and W.D. Pepe (1972). By the same method we also generalize Fu's result to Riemannian manifolds and improve a result of K. Shiohama and M. Tanaka (1996) on distance spheres in Alexandrov spaces.