Homotopical properties of upper semifinite hyperspaces of compacta (Q924293)

The authors begin by considering a compact metric space \((X,d)\) and establishing that the family \(U=\{U_{\varepsilon}\}_{\varepsilon>0}\) is a base of open neighborhoods of the canonical copy of \(X\) inside \(2^{X}\), where \(U_{\varepsilon}=\{C\in 2^{X}\mid \text{diam}(C)<\varepsilon\}\) and \(2^{X}\) denotes the hyperspace of non-empty closed sets with the upper semifinite topology (the authors described some properties of \(2^{X}\) in [\textit{M. Alonso-Morón} and \textit{A. González Gómez}, Topology Appl. 154, No.~10, 2142--2153 (2007; Zbl 1121.54020)]. Theorem 4 describes a kind of homotopy extension property and is, in some sense, similar to Borsuk's Homotopy Extension Theorem for ANRs [see \textit{K. Borsuk}, Theory of retracts. Monografie Matematyczne. 44. Warszawa: PWN -- Polish Scientific Publishers (1967; Zbl 0153.52905)]. The authors study some shape and homotopy properties of the sets \(U_{\varepsilon}\), with \(\varepsilon>0\). In Theorem 5, they prove that the least upper bound for the cardinality of the image of any continuous function from, \(U_{\varepsilon}\) to any \(T_1\)-space is an integer which determines the shape of \(U_{\varepsilon}\). And they prove that, in general \(U_{\varepsilon}\) does not have the same homotopy type as a \(T_1\)-space. This describes one of the main differences between the homotopy and shape categories for topological spaces, because \textit{K. Morita} [Fundam. Math. 86, 251--259 (1975; Zbl 0296.54034)] proved that every topological space has the shape of some Tychonov space (completely regular + \(T_1\)-space). For the whole space they obtain that \(2^{X}\) has the homotopy type of a point. Finally they use the hyperspace with the upper semifinite topology to reinterpret Sanjurjo's description of shape of compact metric spaces [\textit{J. M. R. Sanjurjo}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 329, No.~2, 625--636 (1992; Zbl 0748.54005)] showing that the hyperspaces, with the upper semifinite topology, are as good ambient spaces as the Hilbert cube used by \textit{K. Borsuk} in [Theory of shape. Monografie Matematyczne. Tom 59. Warszawa: PWN - Polish Scientific Publishers (1975; Zbl 0317.55006)].