Simply connected homogeneous continua are not separated by arcs (Q2460838)

The theorem established by this paper is that no arc separates a locally connected, simply connected, homogeneous continuum. The proof relies on Alexander's lemma concerning separation properties of the union of two closed disjoint subsets of the plane, which the authors quickly extend to simply connected spaces. Use is also made of a result of \textit{C. L. Hagopian} [Houston J. Math. 1, 35--41 (1975; Zbl 0314.54033)], which in turn is based on a theorem of \textit{E. G. Effros} [General topology and modern analysis, Proc. Conf., Riverside/Calif. 1980, 217--227 (1981; Zbl 0483.54027)]. Even with these tools, the proof offered consists of over five pages of continua theoretic arguments. Several open questions, which are related to issues in geometric group theory, are raised about homogeneous continua.