A numerical scale for non-locally connected planar continua (Q260520)

The paper under review introduces a numerical scale that aims to measure to which extent a planar continuum is not locally connected. This numerical scale is zero for any locally connected continuum, and it is infinity if a continuum contains an indecomposable subcontinuum. The scale is introduced as follows. Let \(X\) be a continuum with a finite number of complementary domains in the plane. A good cut of \(X\) is a simple closed curve \(C\), such that \(C\cap\partial X\) is finite nonempty and \(C\setminus X\neq\emptyset\). We say that \(x,y\in X\) are separated by a good cut \(C\) of \(X\) if they belong to distinct components of \(\mathbb{R}^2\setminus C\). We let \(E_x=\{y\in X: x \text{ and } y \text{ are not separated by any good cut of }X\}\) be a pseudo-fiber of \(x\). The fiber \(F_x\) of \(x\) is the component of \(E_x\) that contains \(x\). We define the scale \(l(X)\) as the smallest integer \(k\), such that for all \(x\in X\) there exist \(N_0 = X \supset N_1 \supset \dots \supset N_{p-1} \supset N_p = \{x\}\) for some \(p\leq k+1\), where \(N_i\) is a fiber of \(N_{i-1}\). If such an integer \(k\) does not exist, we write \(l(X)=\infty\). The paper is concluded with a number of questions, one of which is closely related to the one asking if the Mandelbrot set \(M\) is locally connected. In particular, the authors ask if \(l(M)<\infty\).