We prove that the space of nonempty subsets of cardinality at most k in a bouquet of m+1-dimensional spheres is (m+k-2)-connected. This, as shown by Tuffley, implies that the space is (m+k-2)-connected for any m-connected cell complex X.
Myers's classical theorem says that a compact Riemannian manifold with positive Ricci curvature has finite fundamental group. Using Ambrose's compactness criterion or J. Lott's results, M. Fernández-López and E. García-Río showed that the finiteness of the fundamental group remains valid for a compact shrinking Ricci soliton. We give a self-contained proof of this fact by estimating the lengths of shortest geodesic loops in each homotopy class.
The theory of covering spaces is often used to prove the Nielsen-Schreier theorem, which states that every subgroup of a free group is free. We apply the more general theory of semicovering spaces to obtain analogous subgroup theorems for topological groups: Every open subgroup of a free Graev topological group is a free Graev topological group. An open subgroup of a free Markov topological group is a free Markov topological group if and only if it is disconnected.