On g-contractibility of continua (Q1939204)

A metric continuum \(X\) is \(g\)-contractible provided that there exists an onto map \(f: X\to X\) such that \(f\) is homotopic to a constant map. The \(n\)th-symmetric product \(F_{n}(X)\) is the hyperspace of nonempty subsets of \(X\) with at most \(n\) elements. In this paper, the authors show that \(g\)-contractibility of continua is preserved under the operations of taking countable products and symmetric products. The following problem remains open: Is \(X\) \(g\)-contactible when either \(X^{n}\) or \(F_{n}(X)\) (\(1<n\)) is \(g\)-contactible? The authors also construct an uncountable family of pairwise non-homeomorphic, uniformly pathwise connected, non-\(g\)-contractible, planar dendroids such that their hyperspaces of subcontinua are not \(g\)-contractible. With these examples, they improve the previous ones given by \textit{I. Kreminska} and \textit{J. R. Prajs} [Topology Appl. 91, No. 2, 151--158 (1999; Zbl 0936.54031)], and the reviewer [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 130, No. 7, 2179--2182 (2002; Zbl 0984.54007)].