Geometry of compact lifting spaces (Q2006789)

This paper explores the relationship between inverse limits of regular finite sheeted covering maps and Hurewicz fibrations with totally disconnected fibers, which the authors refer to as \textit{lifting projections}. Lifting projections are closed under forming inverse limits so it is classical that every inverse limit of covering maps is a lifting projection. The main result of this paper is a partial converse of this fact. To understand the statement of the main result, we give two definitions. Fix a lifting projection \(p:E\to X\). \begin{enumerate} \item The group \(A(p)\) of deck transformations of \(p\) acts on the fibers of \(p\). We say that \(p\) is \textit{regular} if this action of \(A(p)\) is transitive. \item The fundamental group \(\pi_1(X,x_0)\) may be given a natural ``profinite topology'' generated by all finite-index subgroups, i.e. as a subspace of its profinite completion. Note that if \(\pi_1(X,x_0)\) is not residually finite, then the profinite topology is not Hausdorff. The usual right action of the fundamental group on the fiber \(F=p^{-1}(x_0)\) gives a canonical map \(\theta:\pi_1(X,x_0)\to F\). We say that \(p\) is \(\pi_1\)-profinite if \(\theta\) is continuous with respect to the profinite topology on \(\pi_1(X,x_0)\). \end{enumerate} The authors assume all spaces involved are metrizable, which ensures that any inverse limit may be assumed to be the limit of an inverse \textit{sequence}. Although some results in the paper apply more generally, the main result is the following. \textbf{ Theorem:} Let \(X\) be a path-connected and locally contractible space with a residually finite fundamental group and let \(p : E \to X\) be a lifting fibration whose fibers are compact. Then \( p\) is an inverse limit of finite regular coverings if and only if \(p\) is regular, \(\pi_1\)-profinite, and if \(E\) has a dense path component. One should note that this theorem is intended to apply to fibrations akin to the solenoid over the circle where the total space is neither path-connected nor locally path-connected. However, the fact that this main result is a biconditional does appear to be novel. The authors identify that the three properties of being regular, \(\pi_1\)-profinite, and having a dense path component are properties of inverse limits of finite regular coverings. When the fibers of \(p\) are compact, these three properties can be combined with the fact ``every totally path-disconnected compact Hausdorff group is a profinite group'' to identify \(p\) with an explicitly constructed inverse limit of coverings. Overall, the paper is well-written and should be interesting to those who study the geometry and topological structure of inverse limits, which are not necessarily path-connected or locally path-connected. The authors also provide a nice exposition for the interactions between the left and right actions of the fundamental group on the fibers of a lifting projection that may be of interest to a more general audience.