On a generalization of the Darboux theorem to the multidimensional case (Q1594589)

The classical Darboux theorem says that a set \(E\subset\mathbb R\) is the image \(\text{Im } f'\) of the derivative of a differentiable function \(f:(a,b)\to\mathbb R\) if and only if \(E\) is a connected subset of \(\mathbb R\). The author investigates the structure of the image \(\text{Im } f'\) for an everywhere differentiable mapping \(f:\Delta\to X\), where \(X\) is a metrizable locally convex space and \(\Delta\) is a domain in \(\mathbb R^n\). For this purpose the author introduces the notion of weak connectedness which coincides with ordinary connectedness for subsets of \(\mathbb R\). Definition. Suppose that \(X\) is a metrizable locally convex space. A set \(U\subset X\) is weakly connected if it cannot be represented as the union \(U=\bigcup_{t\in T}U_t\) of a family of sets \(U_t\) such that \(U_t\neq U\), \(U_t\cap \text{cl} (U\setminus U_t)=\emptyset\) for each \(t\in T\) and \(U_{t_1}\cap \text{cl} \text{co} U_{t_2}=\emptyset\) if \(t_1,t_2\in T\) and \(t_1\neq t_2\). With the help of this definition, the author obtains a generalization of the Darboux theorem to the multidimensional case. Theorem 1. Suppose that \(X\) is a metrizable locally convex space and \(f:\Delta\to X\) is a differentiable mapping. Then the image \(\text{Im } f'\) of the derivative of \(f\) is a weakly connected set in \(X^n\). The author also constructs an example of a mapping \(f:[0,1]\to \mathbb R^2\) such that \(\text{Im } f'\) is totally disconnected compact. The second main result, Theorem 2, is a converse of Theorem 1 and claims that if \(G\) is a nonempty weakly connected compact set in a Fréchet space \(X\) which is, in addition, a locally weakly connected set then there exists a differentiable mapping \(f:[0,1]\to X\) such that \(\text{Im } f'=G\).