Where is matrix multiplication locally open?

Let ( M 1 , d 1 ) , ( M 2 , d 2 ) be metric spaces. A map f : M 1 → M 2 is said to be locally open at an x 1 ∈ M 1 , if for every e > 0 one finds a δ > 0 such that B ( f ( x 1 ) , δ ) ⊂ f ( B ( x 1 , e ) ) ; here B ( x , r ) stands for the closed ball with center x and radius r . We are particularly interested in the following special case: X , Y , Z are normed spaces, the spaces L ( X , Y ) , L ( Y , Z ) , L ( X , Z ) of linear continuous operators are provided with the operator norm, and the map under consideration is the bilinear map ( S , T ) ↦ S ∘ T (from L ( Y , Z ) × ( L ( X , Y ) to L ( X , Z ) ). For which pairs ( S 0 , T 0 ) ∈ L ( Y , Z ) × ( L ( X , Y ) is it locally open? The main result of the paper gives a complete characterization of pairs ( S , T ) at which this map is locally open in the case of finite-dimensional spaces X , Y , Z .