Deforestation of Peano continua and minimal deformation retracts (Q452085)

The paper considers two natural questions about Peano continua. Which Peano continua admit a minimal deformation retract? In which case does the deforestation of a space coincide with a minimal deformation retract?NEWLINENEWLINEA connected open subset \(A\) of a space \(X\) is an attached strongly contractible subset if the boundary of \(A\) in \(X\) is exactly one point and there exists a strong deformation retraction of \(\overline A\) onto this particular point. The deforestation of a Peano continuum is a strong deformation retraction induced by strong deformation retractions of all attached strongly contractible sets. The space \(X\) is deforested if it admits no nonempty attached strongly contractible subset.NEWLINENEWLINEThe authors prove the following results:NEWLINENEWLINE\textbf{(a)} All Peano continua admit a deforestation.NEWLINENEWLINE\textbf{(b)} In a deforested Peano continuum the set of points with simply connected one-dimensional neighborhoods forms a locally finite graph.NEWLINENEWLINE\textbf{(c)} Suppose \(X\) is a non-contractible one dimensional Peano continuum. Then the deforestation of \(X\) is the unique minimal deformation retract.NEWLINENEWLINEThe authors provide an example of a planar deforested Peano continuum with no minimal deformation retract. Furthermore, they establish a connection between a minimal deformation retract of a one-dimensional Peano continuum and its shape.NEWLINENEWLINERelated questions are considered in [\textit{G. Conner} and \textit{M. Meilstrup}, Topology Appl. 159, No. 16, 3538--3543 (2012; Zbl 1255.55003)].