Shape index in metric spaces
We extend the shape index, introduced by Robbin and Salamon and Mrozek, to locally defined maps in metric spaces. We show that this index is additive. Thus our construction answers in the affirmative two questions posed by Mrozek in [12]. We also prove that the shape index cannot be arbitrarily complicated: the shapes of q-adic solenoids appear as shape indices in natural modifications of Smale's horseshoes but there is not any compact isolated invariant set for any locally defined map in a locally...