Uniqueness of hyperspaces for Peano continua (Q380206)

For a continuum (i.e., a nondegenerate compact connected metric space) \(X\) and a positive integer \(n\), let \(C_n (X)\) denote the space of all nonempty closed subsets of \(X\) with at most \(n\) components, whose topology is endowed with the Hausdorff metric. A continuum \(X\) is said to have unique hyperspace \(C_n(X)\) provided that the following condition holds: If \(Y\) is a continuum and \(C_n(X)\) is homeomorphic to \(C_n(Y)\), then \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(Y\). In this paper, the authors study which Peano continua (i.e., locally connected continua) \(X\) have unique hyperspace \(C_n(X)\) by introducing meshed continua. For a continuum \(X\), let \({\mathcal G}(X)\) be the set of all \(p \in X\) which have a neighborhood \(M\) in \(X\) such that \(M\) is a finite graph. A continuum \(X\) is said to be almost meshed if \({\mathcal G}(X)\) is dense in \(X\). An almost meshed continuum \(X\) is said to be meshed if it has a basis \({\mathcal B}\) such that, for each \(U \in {\mathcal B}\), \(U \cap {\mathcal G}(X)\) is connected. One of the main results of this paper is the following theorem: Theorem. Suppose that \(X\) is a meshed continuum. If \(n\neq 1\), then \(X\) has unique hyperspace \(C_n(X)\). If \(X\) is neither an arc nor a simple closed curve, then \(X\) has unique hyperspace \(C_1(X)\). It is proved that the class of meshed continua is contained in the class of Peano continua, and contains all finite graphs, all dendrites whose set of end points is closed, and all continua having a basis consisting of dendrites whose set of end points is closed. Necessary conditions to have unique hyperspace are also investigated.