Fixed points of plane continua (Q1801927)

The author has previously obtained a sequence of results related to an old, still open, outstanding problem: Does every nonseparating plane continuum have the fixed-point property? The author's theorem [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 248, 85-104 (1979; Zbl 0407.54028)] stating that every uniquely arcwise connected plane continuum has the fixed-point property, and the generalization contained in this paper belong to that category. Let \({\mathcal D}\) be a decomposition of a plane continuum \(M\) with each element of \({\mathcal D}\) uniquely arcwise connected. The author proves that a map of \(M\) into itself, preserving the elements of \({\mathcal D}\), has a fixed point. This result implies that if a plane continuum does not contain a simple closed curve, then an arc-component-preserving map of the continuum has a fixed point. Another important consequence is the Poincaré-Bendixson theorem concerning planar dynamical systems.