Fixed point theorems in plane continua with applications

We present proofs of basic results, including those developed by Harold Bell, for the plane fixed point problem: does every map of a non-separating plane continuum have a fixed point? Some of these results had been announced much earlier by Bell but without accessible proofs. We define the concept of the variation of a map on a simple closed curve and relate it to the index of the map on that curve: Index = Variation + 1. A fixed point theorem for positively oriented, perfect maps of the plane is obtained. This generalizes results announced by Bell in 1982. A continuous map of an interval to the real line which sends the endpoints in opposite directions has a fixed point. We generalize this to maps on non-invariant continua in the plane under positively oriented maps of the plane (with appropriate boundary conditions). These methods imply that in some cases non-invariant continua in the plane are degenerate. This has important applications in complex dynamics. E.g., a special case of our results shows that if $X$ is a non-separating invariant subcontinuum of the Julia set of a polynomial $P$ containing no fixed Cremer points and exhibiting no local rotation at all fixed points, then $X$ must be a point. It follows that impressions of some external rays to polynomial Julia sets are degenerate.