Prove that a “nice” unbounded “open” curve can divide the plane into two parts.

differential-geometrygeneral-topology

Jordan curve theorem is well-known, and it says that a simple closed curve can divide the plane into two parts: an inner part and an outer part.

Now I am wondering that how to prove a similar result about unbounded "open" (i.e., not closed) curves. Suppose I have a parametrized curve
$$
C(t) = (x(t),y(t)),\ t\in (-\infty,\infty).
$$

$C(t)$ does not intersect with itself, and is unbounded in both sides, or
$$
\|C(t)\|\rightarrow \infty,\ {\rm either}\ t\rightarrow \infty \ {\rm or}t\rightarrow -\infty.
$$

Can we prove that $C(t)$ divides the plane into two parts: a left part and a right part? Here "left" and "right" are determined by the orientation of $C(t)$ (imagine we walk through $C(t)$ as $t$ increases).

I think the conclusion is correct but somehow I cannot find any results on this. Unfortunately I don't have any idea on proving it, either.

Many thanks to helpful suggestions!

Best Answer

One version of the Jordan curve theorem is the following:

Let $A$ be a subset of $S^2$ which is homeomorphic to $S^1$. Then $S^2-S^1$ has exactly two components.

Let $p:S^2-\{N\}\to \Bbb R^2$ be the stereographic projection ($N$ is the north pole). Your curve $C$ can be seen as a one-to-one continuous map $C:S^1-\{1\}\to \Bbb R^2$. Now the map $$\gamma=p^{-1}\circ C:S^1-\{1\}\to S^2-\{N\}$$ is a one-to-one continuous map which has the property that $\gamma(t)\to N$as $t\to\infty$. Therefore it extends to a one-to-one continuous map $\gamma:S^1\to S^2$. Because $S^2$ is Hausdorf so is $\gamma(S^1)$, hence because $S^1$ is compact the continuous bijection $\gamma:S^1\to \gamma(S^1)$ is a homeomorphism. Thus you can aply the Jordan curve theorem to $A=\gamma(S^1)$ and you should get what you were looking for.

I hope this help. I'm pretty sure your statement of the Jordan curve theorem is equivalent to mine using stereographic projection.

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