Reparametrizations of continuous paths (Q847550)

This paper investigates the notion of trace of continuous paths, i.e. of continuous paths up to a non-decreasing reparametrization, by analyzing the notions of stop-map, stop-value, move-set and the monoid of non-decreasing reparametrizations. It contains useful technical results relating these notions. They are of interest in directed algebraic topology where a concurrent process is modelled by a topological space equipped with a set of privileged continuous paths corresponding to the execution paths of the concurrent process. The two main observations of the paper are the following ones. (1) The space of regular continuous paths (that is, constant or without stop-values) in a Hausdorff topological space between two different points is weakly homotopy equivalent to the space of regular traces; in fact it is a fibration with contractible fibre. (2) The inclusion of the space of regular continuous paths between two fixed points into the space of continuous paths between the same two points in a Hausdorff topological space induces a homeomorphism between the space of regular traces and the space of traces. As an application, it is proved that the second theorem can be adapted to saturated \(d\)-spaces.