Inverse limits and smoothness of continua (Q797865)

The authors study relations between the inverse limit operation and smoothness of continua (in the sense of Gordh). They show that smoothness of continua is not preserved by the inverse limit operation; but it is preserved if the bonding maps are monotone, and there exists a thread composed of points at which the factor spaces are smooth. However, the proof requires the notion of ''hereditarily multicoherence degree'' which they define in what is claimed to be two equivalent ways; but the two definitions are not equivalent. A simple example shows this. Let \(X=Y\cup B\), where A is the suspension of a Cantor set, B is an arc, and A is joined to B at the common point p, where p is a suspension point of A and an endpoint of B. The second definition is related to hereditary unicoherence. Then the theorem is proved using the second definition. It is also shown that the inverse limit of a sequence of fans under monotone bonding maps is a fan (possibly an arc or point).