Abstract: | We introduce the notion of topological fragility and briefly discuss some examples from the literature. An important example of this type of fragility is the way globally anisotropic Bianchi V generalisations of the FLRW k = –1 model result in a radical restriction on the allowed topology of spatial sections, thereby excluding compact cosmological models with negatively curved three-sections with anisotropy. An outcome of this is to exclude chaotic mixing in such models, which may be relevant, given the many recent attempts at employing compact FLRW k = –1 models to produce chaotic mixing in the cosmic microwave background radiation, if the Universe turns out to be globally anisotropic. |