On \(\frac 12\)-homogeneous continua (Q2502974)

The paper under review is very nice and well written. The authors are interested in the action of the homeomorphism group of a continuum when such an action has two orbits. A continuum is a compact connected metric space. A \textit{cut point} of a continuum \(X\) is a point \(p\in X\) such that \(X\setminus\{p\}\) is not connected. The set of cut points of a continuum \(X\) is denoted by Cut\((X)\). A continuum \(X\) is semilocally connected provided that each point of \(X\) has arbitrarily small open neighborhoods whose complements have only finitely many components. A continuum \(X\) is arc-like (circle-like) provided that for each \(\varepsilon>0\) there exists a surjective continuous function \(f: X\to [0,1]\) (\(f: X\to S^1\)) such that \(\text{diam}(f^{-1}(z))<\varepsilon\) for each \(z\in [0,1]\) (\(z\in S^1\)). The authors use this kind of action to characterize the Hawaiian earring (the union of the circles in the plane centered at \((0, 1-2^{-n})\) and radius \(2^{-n}\), \(n\) a positive integer) as a hereditarily locally connected \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous continuum \(X\) which is not a finite graph and for which Cut\((X)\not=\emptyset\). They also give the following three characterizations of the arc: (1) Let \(X\) be a \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous, semilocally connected continuum. Then Cut\((X)\) has at least two points if and only if \(X\) is an arc. (2) Let \(X\) be a \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous, locally connected continuum. Then Cut\((X)\) has at least two points if and only if \(X\) is an arc. (3) Let \(X\) be a hereditarily decomposable continuum whose proper, nondegenerate subcontinua are arc-like. Then \(X\) is \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous if and only if \(X\) is an arc. As a consequence of (3), we have that There is no hereditarily decomposable \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous, circle-like continuum. The authors end the paper with two interesting questions: Does there exist an indecomposable, \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous, arc-like continuum? and Does there exist an indecomposable, \(1\over 2\)-homogeneous, circle-like continuum?