A space filling map from \(I^ 2\) to \(I^ 3\) with a zero-dimensional singular set (Q1325816)

The main result of this paper establishes the following surprising fact: for every \(n \geq 3\) and \(m \leq n\) there is a continuous function \(f : I^ m \to I^ n\) such that \(f(I^ m) = I^ n\) and \(\dim S(f) = 0\), where \(S(f) = \{x \in I^ m | f^{-1} (f(x)) \neq x\}\) is the singular set. (A detailed argument is presented only for \(m = 2\) and \(n = 3\). However, a generalization is not too difficult.) This is a very important result for understanding why one encounters such great difficulties in trying to find an appropriate general position for 3- manifolds. Namely, it shows that it is a highly nontrivial feat to separate the images of 2-cells in \(\mathbb{R}^ 3\) even when the singular set is only 0-dimensional, which goes contrary to our geometric ``intuition''. (Notice that the maps with 0-dimensional singular set play a pivotal role in recognizing 3-manifolds [\textit{R. J. Daverman} and the reviewer, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 315, No. 1, 219-230 (1989; Zbl 0681.57005)]).