Local homological properties and cyclicity of homogeneous ANR compacta

Abstract

In accordance with the Bing-Borsuk conjecture \cite{bb}, we show that if $X$ is an $n$-dimensional homogeneous metric $ANR$ compactum and $x\in X$, then there is a local basis at x consisting of connected open sets U such that the homological properties of \bar U and bdU are similar to the properties of the closed ball B^n in R^n and its boundary S^{n-1}. We discuss also the following questions raised by Bing-Borsuk, where X is a homogeneous ANR-compactum with dim X=n: Is it true that $X$ is cyclic in dimension n? Is it true that no non-empty closed subset of X, acyclic in dimension n-$, separates X? It is shown that both questions have positive answers simultaneously, and a positive solution to each one of them implies a solution to another question of Bing-Borsuk (whether every finite-dimensional homogenous metric AR-compactum is a point).