Simply connected at infinity explained

In topology, a branch of mathematics, a topological space X is said to be simply connected at infinity if for any compact subset C of X, there is a compact set D in X containing C so that the induced map

\pi _{1(X-D)} \to \pi _{1(X-C)}

is the zero map. Intuitively, this is the property that loops far away from a small subspace of X can be collapsed, no matter how bad the small subspace is.

The Whitehead manifold is an example of a 3-manifold that is contractible but not simply connected at infinity. Since this property is invariant under homeomorphism, this proves that the Whitehead manifold is not homeomorphic to R³.

However, it is a theorem of John R. Stallings^[1] that for

n \geq 5 , a contractible n-manifold is homeomorphic to Rⁿ precisely when it is simply connected at infinity.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Theory : Chapter 10 . PDF . Math.rutgers.edu . 2015-03-08.