Smooth fans that are endpoint rigid

Abstract

Let X be a smooth fan and denote its set of endpoints by E(X). Let E be one of the following spaces: the natural numbers, the irrational numbers, or the product of the Cantor set with the natural numbers. We prove that there is a smooth fan X such that E(X) is homeomorphic to E and for every homeomorphism h : X → X , the restriction of h to E(X) is the identity. On the other hand, we also prove that if X is any smooth fan such that E(X) is homeomorphic to complete Erdős space, then X is necessarily homeomorphic to the Lelek fan; this adds to a 1989 result by Włodzimierz Charatonik.