Alternative proof of Keith-Zhong self-improvement and connectivity

We find a new proof for the celebrated theorem of Keith and Zhong that a $(1,p)$-Poincar\'e inequality self-improves to a $(1,p-\epsilon)$-Poincar\'e inequality. The paper consists of a novel characterization of Poincar\'e inequalities and then uses it to give an entirely new proof which is closely related to Muckenhoupt-weights. This new characterization, and the alternative proof, demonstrate a formal similarity between Muckenhoupt-weights and Poincar\'e inequalities. The proofs we give are short and somewhat more direct. With them we can give the first completely transparent bounds for the quantity of self-improvement and the constants involved. We observe that the quantity of self-improvement is, for large $p$, directly proportional to $p$, and inversely proportional to a power of the doubling constant and the constant in the Poincar\'e inequality. The proofs can be localized and thus we obtain more transparent proofs of the self-improvement of local Poincar\'e inequalities.