Small loop spaces (Q1044876)

The notion of small loops arises in covering spaces as an obstruction to being semi-locally simply connected, cf. [\textit{N. Brodskiy} et al., Houston J. Math. 39, No. 2, 667--699 (2013; Zbl 1278.55024)] and Fundam. Math. 218, No. 1, 13--46 (2012; Zbl 1260.55013)]. A small loop \(\alpha: (S^1,0)\rightarrow (X,x_0)\) is a loop which is homotopic to a loop in every open neighborhood \(U\) of \(x_0\) and a small loop space is a topological space in which every loop is small. In a semi-locally simply connected space every point has an open neighborhood which contains only homotopically trivial loops, but in a small loop space \((X,x_0)\) each homotopy class \([\alpha]\in \pi_1(X,x_0)\) has a representative in every open neighborhood of \(x_0\) so the fundamental group \(\pi_1(X,x_0)\) is generated by every open neighborhood \(U\) of \(x_0\). In this paper a small loop space is obtained using the Harmonic Archipelago and a small loop group of a space is defined.