Čech closure spaces: a unified framework for discrete and continuous homotopy (Q2029610)

Recall that a closure (or pretopological) space \(X\) is a set with a Čech closure operator: a map \(c\) on the subsets of \(X\) such that (i) \(c(\emptyset)=\emptyset\), (ii) \(A\subseteq c(A)\), and (iii) \(c(A\cup B)=c(A)\cup c(B)\). \(X\) is a topological space only if \(c^2=c\). The author shows that homotopy and the fundamental group can be defined, and a version of the Seifert-Van Kampen theorem is established, for the more general case of closure spaces. Now if \(X\) is a metric space, then for any \(r\geq 0\), a closure operator \(c_r\) is constructed by taking \(c_r(A)\) to be the set of all points in \(X\) whose distance to \(A\) is at most \(r\). The fundamental group of the unit circle \(S^1\) with closure operator \(c_r\) is computed: \(\pi_1(S^1,c_r)\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbb{Z}\) for \(r\leq\tfrac{1}{3}\), but is the trivial group if \(r\geq\tfrac{1}{2}\). It is also shown that \(\pi_1(\mathbb{Z}_n,c_r)\cong\mathbb{Z}\) for \(1\leq r<\tfrac{n}{3}\), and is trivial for \(r\geq\lfloor\tfrac{n}{2}\rfloor\). Possible applications of the constructions presented in the article to computational topology are briefly discussed.