Embedding products in symmetric products of continua (Q278163)

For a continuum (i.e., a nonempty compact connected metric space) \(X\) and a positive integer \(n\), let \(X^n\) denote the product of \(X\) with itself \(n\) times with the product topology and \(F_n (X)\) the \(n\)-th symmetric product of \(X\), that is, the hyperspace of all nonempty subsets of \(X\) with at most \(n\) points, equipped with the Hausdorff metric. In this paper, the authors consider the problem of determining continua such that \(X^n\) can be embedded in \(F_n(X)\), and prove the following theorems: For a graph \(X\), \(X^2\) can be embedded in \(F_2(X)\) if and only if \(X\) is an arc. If a continuum \(X\) is \(2\)-self-homeomorphic, then \(X^n\) can be embedded in \(F_n(X)\) for each \(n\in \mathbb{N}\). Here, a continuum \(X\) is said to be \(2\)-self-homeomorphic if there exist mutually disjoint proper subcontinua of \(X\) which are homeomorphic to \(X\). An example of a continuum \(X\) such that for each \(n\in \mathbb{N}\), \(X^n\) can be embedded in \(F_n(X)\) and \(X\) is not \(2\)-self-homeomorphic is also obtained.