Homotopies and the universal fixed point property (Q890006)

The article deals with the question of whether for a continuous family of self-maps \(f_t : X \to X\) of a fixed point space \(X\) (that is, a topological space which has the fixed point property: every self-map has a fixed point) there is a continuous family of points fixed by \(f_t\). In the case such a family of fixed points exists for any family of self-maps indexed by \([0,1]\) (by any topological space \(T\)) the space \(X\) is said to satisfy the \textit{homotopy (universal) fixed point property}. An easy example allows the author to conclude that neither finite-dimensional manifolds or CW complexes nor convex subspaces of Banach spaces satisfy the homotopy fixed point property unless they are a singleton. A continuous map \(\phi : C(X, X) \to X\) is called a \textit{selection map} for \(X\) if \(\phi(f)\) is a fixed point for \(f\) for any \(f \in C(X, X)\). The author proves that for locally compact Hausdorff spaces it is equivalent to have a selection map and to satisfy the universal fixed point property. As a corollary, it is shown that it is enough to consider families indexed by \(C(X, X)\) in order to check the universal fixed point property for locally compact Hausdorff spaces. Finally, posets (partially ordered sets) are studied. Fixed point spaces are shown to be Kolmogorov spaces (also known as \(T_0\) spaces). The category of finite Kolmogorov spaces and continuous maps is isomorphic to the category of finite posets and monotone maps. The author proves that a finite poset has a selection map if and only if its associated \(T_0\) space has the universal fixed point property. This allows to construct examples of spaces satisfying the universal fixed point property: dismantlable finite posets and also a finite \(T_0\) space which is not contractible but admits a selection map.