Locally 1-to-1 maps and 2-to-1 retractions (Q2747321)

A function is 2-to-1 if the preimage of each point in the image has exactly two points. A continuum \(Y\) is a 2-to-1 retract if there is a continuum \(X\) and a 2-to-1 retraction from \(X\) onto a subcontinuum of \(X\) that is homeomorphic to \(Y\). The paper considers the question of which continua are 2-to-1 retracts.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEA 1-to-1 cover of a map \(f\) with domain \(X\) is a restriction of \(f\) to an open proper subset \(U\) of \(X\) such that \(f\) is to 1-to-1 on \(U\) and \(f(U)= f(X)\). It is shown that a continuum \(Y\) is a 2-to-1 retract if and only if there is a (simple) map with a 1-to-1 cover from a continuum onto \(Y\). A number of corollaries give sufficient conditions under which a continuum is a 2-to-1 retract.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEFurther, a series of results is presented to demonstrate that the strictly locally 1-to-1 (that is, locally 1-to-1 but not a homeomorphism) image of a continuum is frequently a 2-to-1 retract, and examples are constructed that demonstrate the sort of complexity that a continuum might have in order for it to have a strictly locally 1-to-1 image that is not a 2-to-1 retract. Further, necessary conditions are discussed under which a decomposable continuum is a 2-to-1 retract, and finally it is shown that if a continuum is a 2-to-1 retract, then it is a \(k\)-to-1 retract, for each \(k>2\).