General properties of pseudo-contractibility (Q1663855)

This paper concerns the pseudo-contractibility of topological spaces, a notion introduced by R. H. Bing. Recall that two mappings \(f, g: X\to Y\) are pseudo-homotopic if there exist a continuum \(C\) (called a factor space), \(a, b\in C\), and a mapping \(H: X\times C \to Y\) such that \(H(x,a) = f(x)\) and \(H(x,b) = g(x)\). A space \(X\) is pseudo-contractible if the identity mapping is pseudo-homotopic to a constant mapping into \(X\). In the first two sections of the paper, the authors obtain fundamental facts on pseudo-homotopy and pseudo-contractibility. In the following two sections, they introduce the notion of pseudo-contractibility with respect to a space \(Y\). In particular, pseudo-contractibility of \(X\) is equivalent to pseudo-contractibility of \(X\) with respect to every compact metric space \(Y\), and is equivalent to continuumwise connectedness of \(C(X,X)\) (the space of mappings \(f: X\to X\) with the compact-open topology). Here, \(X\) is pseudo-contractible with respect to \(Y\) if each mapping \(f: X\to Y\) is pseudo-homotopic to a constant mapping. Moreover, the authors study the pseudo-homotopical equivalence relation, in particular, its relation to pseudo-contractibility. In the final two sections, they obtain conditions that imply non-pseudo-contractibility. For example, every pseudo-contractible continuum has trivial shape, and every pseudo-contractible compact metric space has Property b). Here, recall that a space \(X\) has Property b) if each mapping \(f: X\to S^1\) admits a lift \(g: X\to{\mathbb R}\).