On the Borsuk conjecture concerning homotopy domination

Abstract: In the seminal monograph "Theory of retracts", Borsuk raised the following question: suppose two compact ANR's are

h

--equal, i.e. mutually homotopy dominate each other, are they homotopy equivalent? The current paper approaches this question in two ways. On one end, we provide conditions on the fundamental group which guarantee a positive answer to the Borsuk question. On the other end, we construct various examples of compact

h

--equal, not homotopy equivalent continua, with distinct properties. The first class of these examples has trivial all known algebraic invariants (such as homology, homotopy groups etc.) The second class is given by

n

--connected continua, for any

n

, which are infinite

C W

--complexes, and hence ANR's, on a complement of a point.

Review text

A topological space \(X\) is homotopy dominated by a space \(Y\), written \(X\leq_h Y\) if there are maps \(f:X\to Y,\;g:Y\to X\) such that \(g\circ f \simeq id_X\). If both \(X\leq_h Y\) and \(Y\leq_h X\) then \(X\) and \(Y\) are said to be \textit{h-equal}, cf. [\textit{K. Borsuk}, Theory of retracts. Warszawa: PWN - Polish Scientific Publishers (1967; Zbl 0153.52905)]. Homotopy equivalent spaces are \(h\)-equal. Borsuk posed the question if \(h\)-equal, compact ANR spaces are homotopy equivalent. A negative answer was given in [\textit{T. E. Stewart}, Nederl. Akad. Wet., Proc., Ser. A 61, 460--462 (1958; Zbl 0083.17603)]. From the authors' abstract: ``The current paper approaches this question in two ways. On one end, we provide conditions on the fundamental group which guarantee a positive answer to Borsuk's question. On the other end, we construct various examples of compact \(h\)-equal, not homotopy equivalent continua, with distinct properties. The first class of these examples has the property that all known algebraic invariants (such as homology, homotopy groups etc.) are trivial. The second class is given by \(n\)-connected continua, for any \(n\), which are infinite CW-complexes, and hence ANR's, on the complement of a point.

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