On the topological Helly theorem

acyclicity asphericity cell-like connectedness Helly-type theorems planar absolute retracts planar continua simply connected planar sets singular cells

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Connected and locally connected spaces (general aspects) (54D05) Continua and generalizations (54F15) Singular homology and cohomology theory (55N10)

Review text

The classical Topological Helly Theorem [\textit{E. Helly}, Monatshefte f. Math. 37, 281--302 (1930; JFM 56.0499.03)] says the following: Theorem. Let \(\mathcal{K}\) be any finite family with \(m+1\) elements of closed subsets of the \(n\) dimensional (\(m \leq n\)) Euclidean space \(\mathbb{R}^{n}\) such that the intersection of any \(k\) members of \(\mathcal{K}\) is a singular cell, for every \(k \leq n\), and is nonempty, for \(k=n+1\). Then the intersection of all \(m+1\) members of \(\mathcal{K}\) is a singular cell. All known proofs of this theorem are inductive and the initial step (i.e., when \(m=n=2\)) is based on the following assertion. (*) Any family \(\mathcal{K}\) of three simply connected compact subsets of the plane \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\) has a simply connected intersection provided that the intersection of any two of its members is path connected and the intersection of all three members is nonempty. Apparently, for several years nobody questioned the validity of assertion (*). However \textit{S. A. Bogatyi} [Fundam. Prikl. Mat. 8, No. 2, 365--405 (2002; Zbl 1028.52004)] has recently pointed out that no complete proof of (*) can be found in the existing literature and he proved (*) for the particular case that each element in \(\mathcal{K}\) is locally connected. In the paper under review the authors fill this gap by proving claim (*) as a consequence of the following theorem. Theorem. Under the hypothesis of (*), the intersection of all three members of \(\mathcal{K}\) is cell-like connected. They also offer the following conjecture, a positive answer to which would prove (*). Conjecture. Every component of the intersection of any finite family of planar ARs is an AR. Finally they observe that this conjecture is not true for subsets of \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\) by showing two topological disks in \(\mathbb{R}^{3}\) such that the intersection is homeomorphic to the Topologist's Sine Curve.

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