Spaces with polynomial hulls that contain no analytic discs (Q2205557)

The paper is motivated by the question of Bercovici if a nonsmooth one-dimensional manifold can have a polynomial hull containing no analytic discs. Recall here the classical result of Stolzenberg who showed that if \(X\) is a \textbf{smooth} one-dimensional manifold, the set \(\widehat X \setminus X\) is either empty or is a one-dimensional analytic variety. The author shows that the answer to Bercovici's question is negative. More precisely, he shows that there exist arcs in \(\mathbb C^4\) with nontrivial polynomial hulls that contain no analytic discs. Among many very interesting results in the paper, the following is the most crucial: it is shown that every uncountable, compact subspace of \(\mathbb R^n\) can be embedded as a subspace \(X\) of \(\mathbb C^{n+4}\), in such a way that it has a nontrivial polynomial hull that contains no analytic discs. The key to prove this result is to obtain a Cantor set whose polynomial hull is nontrivial but contains no analytic discs.