A note on the isotopy problem for \(\mathbb{R}^2\)-planes (Q1423854)

Given any two topological affine planes with point set \(\mathbb{R}^2\), \textit{B. Polster} [The isotopy problem for topological planes, preprint, 1995] constructed an isotopy between them, in the sense that every line of the first plane is continuously deformed into a line of the second plane, and such that at every moment \(t\in [0,1]\), the \(t\)-deformation stages \(L_t\) of all lines \(L\) together form the line system of an affine plane. However, his deformation is continuous only as a function of \(t\), not of \(L\). The present author constructs isotopies which are simultaneously continuous in both variables, and his result is moreover valid for a wider class of planes, namely, stable planes with point set \(\mathbb{R}^2\) containing the horizontal and vertical fibres of \(\mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R}\) as lines. (In the affine case, the latter condition is no restriction.) His idea is to cut bigger and bigger convex `compact discs' out of one plane and to paste them into the other one. This technique of pasting a disc into a plane is due to \textit{M. Stroppel} [Result. Math. 24, No. 3--4, 342--347 (1993; Zbl 0791.51011)]. The present author strengthens the result of Stroppel in order to make it work in his situation, where lines are not necessarily connected. He also considers the isotopy problem in the projective case. The same construction works provided (as before) that the planes have two classical line pencils, but here this condition does mean a restriction, as the author demonstrates by an example.