On continuously irreducible continua

We study continuously irreducible continua and characterize them as those continua of type λ for which the set function T is continuous. Using results by Mohler and Oversteegen, we present a new family of one-dimensional continua for which the set function T is continuous and no element of the family contains a pseudo-arc. We study the hyperspaces of these continua.     

Disk-like products of continua

In 1975 Hagopian proved that continua X and Y are atriodic and hereditarily unicoherent when the product X×Y is disk-like. In this paper, under the same condition, we prove that X and Y are contractible with respect to every ANR and X and Y are tree-like continua in ClassHW.     

The surjective semispan for Hausdorff continua

It is well known that Tychonoff spaces are those whose topology is induced by a uniformity. We use this fact to give two characterizations of chainable continua; the first one in terms of V-chains and the other one in terms of V-maps. We also define the surjective semispan for Hausdorff continua and we prove that chainable continua has empty surjective semispan. As a consequence of this result we obtain that each map from a continuum onto a chainable continuum is universal; in particular, chainable continua have the fixed point property.     

Pseudo-path connected homogeneous continua

The main result of this paper states that every homogeneous pseudo-path connected continuum is weakly chainable, or equivalently, every homogeneous continuum connected by continuous images of the pseudo-arc is itself a continuous image of the pseudo-arc. We notice that even though there exist homogeneous path connected continua that are not continuous images of an arc (Prajs, 2002), they all are continuous images of the pseudo-arc.     

On the general theory of exact controllability for skew symmetric operators

We introduce a general formalism for linear evolution equations with skew adjoint operators. We make explicit the controllability operator as an expansion with respect to eigenfunctions. Using the fact that the eigenvalues are purely imaginary, we give sufficient controllability conditions. This approach is convenient for studying the asymptotic behaviour of the optimal control.     

Local homeomorphisms onto nonunicoherent continua

We show that ifY is a nonunicoherent continuum and if 1 n < , then there is a local homeomorphism of degreen from some continuumX ontoY.     

Rigid continua and transfinite inductive dimension

We introduce a general method of resolving first countable, compact spaces that allows accurate estimate of inductive dimensions. We apply this method to construct, inter alia, for each ordinal number α>1 of cardinality ?c, a rigid, first countable, non-metrizable continuum Sα with . Sα is the increment in some compactification of [0,1) and admits a fully closed, ring-like map onto a metric continuum. Moreover, every subcontinuum of Sα is separable. Additionally, Sα can be constructed so as to be: (1) a hereditarily indecomposable Anderson-Choquet continuum with covering dimension a given natural number n, provided α>n, (2) a hereditarily decomposable and chainable weak Cook continuum, (3) a hereditarily decomposable and chainable Cook continuum, provided α is countable, (4) a hereditarily indecomposable Cook continuum with covering dimension one, or (5) a Cook continuum with covering dimension two, provided α>2.We also produce a chainable and hereditarily decomposable space Sω(c⁺) with , , trind₀Sω(c⁺) and trInd₀Sω(c⁺) all equal to ω(c⁺), the first ordinal of cardinality c⁺.     

Filament sets and homogeneous continua

New tools are introduced for the study of homogeneous continua. The subcontinua of a given continuum are classified into three types: filament, non-filament, and ample, with ample being a subcategory of non-filament. The richness of the collection of ample subcontinua of a homogeneous continuum reflects where the space lies in the gradation from being locally connected at one extreme to indecomposable at another. Applications are given to the general theory of homogeneous continua and their hyperspaces.     

Local planarity in one-dimensional continua

In this paper we address a problem posed by W. Lewis at the Second International Conference on Continuum Theory held at BUAP, Puebla, Mexico. Lewis asked for a characterization of local-planarity in inverse limit spaces of finite graphs in terms of the dynamics of the bonding maps. We give some sufficiency conditions and show that points at which our sufficiency conditions do not guarantee the space is locally planar, the problem requires a solution to the harder problem of characterizing planarity in inverse limits of graphs. We also examine the case of an inverse limit generated by a single map, f, on a single graph, G. Assuming that f has finitely many turning points and is non-contracting, we characterize local planarity in terms of the dynamics of f.     

Almost arcwise connected continua without dense arc components

A continuum M is almost arcwise connected if each pair of nonempty open subsets of M can be joined by an arc in M. An almost arcwise connected plane continuum without a dense arc component can be defined by identifying pairs of endpoints of three copies of the Knaster indecomposable continuum that has two endpoints. In [7] K.R. Kellum gave this example and asked if every almost arcwise connected continuum without a dense arc component has uncountably many arc components. We answer Kellum's question by defining an almost arcwise connected plane continuum with only three arc components none of which are dense. A continuum M is almost Peano if for each finite collection $\text{C}$ of nonempty open subsets of M there is a Peano continuum in M that intersects each element of $\text{C}$. We define a hereditarily unicoherent almost Peano plane continuum that does not have a dense arc component. We prove that every almost arcwise connected planar λ-dendroid has exactly one dense arc component. It follows that every hereditarily unicoherent almost arcwise connected plane continuum without a dense arc component has uncountably many arc components. Using an example of J. Krasinkiewicz and P Minc [8], we define an almost Peano λ-dendroid that do not have a dense arc component. Using a theorem of J.B. Fugate and L. Mohler [3], we prove that every almost arcwise connected λ-dendroid without a dense arc component has uncountably many arc components. In Euclidean 3-space we define an almost Peano continuum with only countably many arc components no one of which is dense. It is not known if the plane contains a continuum with these properties.     

Embedding Tn-like continua in Euclidean space

Many authors have been concerned with embedding ∏-like continua in Rⁿ where ∏ is some collection of polyhedra or manifolds. A similar concern has been embedding ∏-like continua in Rⁿ up to shape. In this paper we prove two main theorems. Theorem: If n ? 2 and X is Tⁿ-like, then X embeds in R²ⁿ. This result was conjectured by McCord for the case H¹(X) finitely generated and proved by McCord for the case that H¹(X) = 0 using a theorem of Isbell. The second theorem is a shape embedding theorem. Theorem: If X is Tⁿ-like, then X embeds in Rⁿ⁺² up to shape. This theorem is proved by showing that an n-dimensional compact connected abelian topological group embeds in Rⁿ⁺². Any Tⁿ-like continuum is shape equivalent to a k-dimensional compact connected abelian topological group for some 0 ? k ? n.     

Expansive homeomorphisms and plane separating continua

A homeomorphism is expansive provided that there exists a constant c>0 and for every x,y∈X there exists an integer n, dependent only on x and y, such that d(hn(x),hn(y))>c. It is shown that if X is a 1-dimensional continuum that separates the plane into 2 pieces, then h cannot be expansive.     

Finite linear coverings of locally connected continua

A concept of finite coverings of continua with a linear order of their members is given. A characterization is obtained of hereditarily locally connected continua which have a finite supremum of cardinalities of the considered coverings.     

Extension theorems for some classes of continua

It is proved that every mapping from a proper subcontinuum of a hereditarily unicoherent continuum X onto the Knaster's indecomposable continuum (onto a cone over a zerodimensional compact metric set) can be extended to a mapping defined on X.Similarly, every mapping from a proper subcontinuum of a hereditarily indecomposable continuum onto a pseudoarc can be extended to a mapping defined on the whole space.Both of the above results are generalizations of the author's earlier results to the nonmetric case. As a consequence it is obtained that a pseudoarc is continuously n-homogeneous.     

A method for constructing ordered continua

We present a method for constructing ordered continua. We illustrate our method by constructing (i) a new order-homogeneous non-reversible continuum, and (ii) an ordered continuum with a minimal set of continuous self-maps.     

Almost arcwise connectivity in unicoherent continua

K.R. Kellum has proved that a continuum is an almost continuous image of the interval [0, 1] if and only if it is an almost Peano continuum. Hence, a continuum is an almost continuous image of [0, 1] if it has a dense arc component.Our principal result is that any almost arcwise connected, semi-hereditarily unicoherent, metric continuum with only countably many arc components has a dense arc component. An example is given to show that this is not true for unicoherent continua in general. It is also shown that any semi-hereditarily unicoherent continuum with only countably many arc components has at most one dense arc component, and if it has a dense arc component, then every other arc component is nowhere dense. This generalizes results of Fugate and Mohler for λ-dendroids.     

The terminal hyperspace of homogeneous continua

We investigate the structure of the collection of terminal subcontinua in homogeneous continua. The main result is a reduction of this structure to six specific types. Three of these types are of one-dimensional spaces, and examples representing these types are known. It is not known whether higher dimensional examples having non-trivial terminal subcontinua and representing the three remaining types exist.     

Mappings between inverse limits of continua with multivalued bonding functions

We investigate the limit mappings between inverse limits of continua with upper semi-continuous bonding functions. Results are obtained when the coordinate mappings are surjective, one-to-one or homeomorphisms. We construct examples showing the hypothesis of the theorems are essential. Further, we construct an example showing that, unlike for the inverse limits with single valued maps, properties of being monotone, confluent or weakly confluent mappings between factor spaces are not preserved in the inverse limit map.