Spaces with polynomial hulls that contain no analytic discs

Extensions of the notions of polynomially and rationally convex hulls are introduced. Using these notions, a generalization of a result of Duval and Levenberg on polynomially convex hulls containing no analytic discs is presented. As a consequence it is shown that there exists a Cantor set $X$ in ${\mathbb C}^3$ with a nontrivial polynomially convex hull that contains no analytic discs. Using this Cantor set, it is shown that there exist arcs and curves in ${\mathbb C}^4$ with nontrivial polynomially convex hulls that contain no analytic discs. This answers a question raised a few years ago by Bercovici and can be regarded as a partial answer to a question raised by Wermer over 60 years ago. More generally, it is shown that every uncountable, compact subspace of a Euclidean space can be embedded as a subspace $X$ of ${\mathbb C}^N$, for some N, in such a way as to have a nontrivial polynomially convex hull that contains no analytic discs. In the case when the topological dimension of the space is at most one, $X$ can be chosen so as to have the stronger property that $P(X)$ has a dense set of invertible elements.