Products of hereditarily indecomposable continua are 2-connected
Let f be a map of a tree-like continuum M that sends each arc-component of M into itself. We prove that f has a fixed point. Hence every tree-like continuum has the fixed-point property for deformations (maps that are homotopic to the identity). This result answers a question of Bellamy. Our proof resembles an old argument of Brouwer involving uncountably many tangent curves. The curves used by Brouwer were originally defined by Peano. In place of these curves, we use rays that were originally defined...
We define an unusual continuum M with the fixed-point property in the plane ℝ². There is a disk D in ℝ² such that M ∩ D is an arc and M ∪ D does not have the fixed-point property. This example answers a question of R. H. Bing. The continuum M is a countable union of arcs.
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