The fundamental group of reduced suspensions

Abstract

We classify pointed spaces according to the first fundamental group of their reduced suspension. A pointed space is either of so-called totally path disconnected type or of horseshoe type. These two camps are defined topologically but a characterization is given in terms of fundamental groups. Among totally path disconnected spaces the fundamental group is shown to be a complete invariant for a notion of topological equivalence weaker than that of homeomorphism.