Maximal pseudocompact spaces and the Preiss-Simon property

We study maximal pseudocompact spaces calling them also MP-spaces. We show that the product of a maximal pseudocompact space and a countable compact space is maximal pseudocompact. If X is hereditarily maximal pseudocompact then X × Y is hereditarily maximal pseudocompact for any first countable compact space Y. It turns out that hereditary maximal pseudocompactness coincides with the Preiss-Simon property in countably compact spaces. In compact spaces, hereditary MP-property is invariant under continuous images while this is not true for the class of countably compact spaces. We prove that every Fréchet-Urysohn compact space is homeomorphic to a retract of a compact MP-space. We also give a ZFC example of a Fréchet-Urysohn compact space which is not maximal pseudocompact. Therefore maximal pseudocompactness is not preserved by continuous images in the class of compact spaces.     

Topological vector spaces, compacta, and unions of subspaces

In the first two sections, we study when a σ-compact space can be covered by a point-finite family of compacta. The main result in this direction concerns topological vector spaces. Theorem 2.4 implies that if such a space L admits a countable point-finite cover by compacta, then L has a countable network. It follows that if f is a continuous mapping of a σ-compact locally compact space X onto a topological vector space L, and fibers of f are compact, then L is a σ-compact space with a countable network (Theorem 2.10). Therefore, certain σ-compact topological vector spaces do not have a stronger σ-compact locally compact topology.In the last, third section, we establish a result going in the orthogonal direction: if a compact Hausdorff space X is the union of two subspaces which are homeomorphic to topological vector spaces, then X is metrizable (Corollary 3.2).     

On extensions of countable filterbases to ultrafilters and ultrafilter compactness

We show in the Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory ZF without the axiom of choice:

1. Given an infinite set X, the Stone space S(X) is ultrafilter compact.

2. For every infinite set X, every countable filterbase of X extends to an ultra-filter i? for every infinite set X, S(X) is countably compact.

3. ω has a free ultrafilter i? every countable, ultrafilter compact space is countably compact.

   We also show the following:

4. There are a permutation model 𝒩 and a set X ∈ 𝒩 such that X has no free ultrafilters and S(X) is not compact but S(X) is countably compact and every countable filterbase of X extends to an ultrafilter.

5. It is relatively consistent with ZF that every countable filterbase of ω extends to an ultrafilter but there exists a countable filterbase of ? which does not extend to an ultrafilter. Hence, it is relatively consistent with ZF that ? has free ultrafilters but there exists a countable filterbase of ? which does not extend to an ultrafilter.

     

Nagata's conjecture and countably compact hulls in generic extensions

Nagata conjectured that every M-space is homeomorphic to a closed subspace of the product of a countably compact space and a metric space. Although this conjecture was refuted by Burke and van Douwen, and A. Kato, independently, but we can show that there is a c.c.c. poset P of size ω² such that in VP Nagata's conjecture holds for each first countable regular space from the ground model (i.e. if a first countable regular space X∈V is an M-space in VP then it is homeomorphic to a closed subspace of the product of a countably compact space and a metric space in VP). By a result of Morita, it is enough to show that every first countable regular space from the ground model has a first countable countably compact extension in VP. As a corollary, we also obtain that every first countable regular space from the ground model has a maximal first countable extension in model VP.     

Normality in products with a countable factor

The class of normal spaces that have normal product with every countable space is considered. A countably compact normal space X and a countable Y such that X×Y is not normal is constructed assuming CH. Also, ? is used to construct a perfectly normal countably compact X and a countable Y such that X×Y is not normal. The question whether a Dowker space can have normal product with itself is considered. It is shown that if X is Dowker and contains any countable non-discrete subspace, then X² is not normal. It follows that a product of a Dowker space and a countable space is normal if and only if the countable space is discrete. If X is Rudin's ZFC Dowker space, then X² is normal. An example of a Dowker space of cardinality ℵ₂ with normal square is constructed assuming .     

Multiplicative Spectra of Banach Spaces

The multiplicative spectrum of a complex Banach space X is the class (X) of all (automatically compact and Hausdorff) topological spaces appearing as spectra of Banach algebras (X, *) for all possible continuous multiplications on X turning X into a commutative associative complex algebra with unity. Properties of multiplicative spectra are studied. In particular, we show that (X ⁿ ) consists of countable compact spaces with at most n nonisolated points for any separable, hereditarily indecomposable Banach space X. We prove that (C[0, 1]) coincides with the class of all metrizable compact spaces. __________ Translated from Sovremennaya Matematika i Ee Prilozheniya (Contemporary Mathematics and Its Applications), Vol. 14, Algebra, 2004.     

Abelian torsion groups with a countably compact group topology

Comfort and Remus [W.W. Comfort, D. Remus, Abelian torsion groups with a pseudocompact group topology, Forum Math. 6 (3) (1994) 323–337] characterized algebraically the Abelian torsion groups that admit a pseudocompact group topology using the Ulm–Kaplansky invariants.We show, under a condition weaker than the Generalized Continuum Hypothesis, that an Abelian torsion group (of any cardinality) admits a pseudocompact group topology if and only if it admits a countably compact group topology. Dikranjan and Tkachenko [D. Dikranjan, M. Tkachenko, Algebraic structure of small countably compact Abelian groups, Forum Math. 15 (6) (2003) 811–837], and Dikranjan and Shakhmatov [D. Dikranjan, D. Shakhmatov, Forcing hereditarily separable compact-like group topologies on Abelian groups, Topology Appl. 151 (1–3) (2005) 2–54] showed this equivalence for groups of cardinality not greater than .We also show, from the existence of a selective ultrafilter, that there are countably compact groups without non-trivial convergent sequences of cardinality κ^ω, for any infinite cardinal κ. In particular, it is consistent that for every cardinal κ there are countably compact groups without non-trivial convergent sequences whose weight λ has countable cofinality and λ>κ.     

On HCO spaces. An uncountable compactT 2 space,different from ℵ1+1, which is homeomorphic to each of its uncountable closed subspaces,which is homeomorphic to each of its uncountable closed subspaces

LetX be an Hausdorff space. We say thatX is a CO space, ifX is compact and every closed subspace ofX is homeomorphic to a clopen subspace ofX, andX is a hereditarily CO space (HCO space), if every closed subspace is a CO space. It is well-known that every well-ordered chain with a last element, endowed with the interval topology, is an HCO space, and every HCO space is scattered. In this paper, we show the following theorems: Theorem (R. Bonnet):

1. Every HCO space which is a continuous image of a compact totally disconnected interval space is homeomorphic to β+1 for some ordinal β.
2. Every HCO space of countable Cantor-Bendixson rank is homeomorphic to α+1 for some countable ordinal α.

Theorem (S. Shelah):Assume \(\diamondsuit _{\aleph _1 } \) . Then there is a HCO compact space X of Cantor-Bendixson rankω ₁} and of cardinality ?₁ such that:

1. X has only countably many isolated points,
2. Every closed subset of X is countable or co-countable,
3. Every countable closed subspace of X is homeomorphic to a clopen subspace, and every uncountable closed subspace of X is homeomorphic to X, and
4. X is retractive.

In particularX is a thin-tall compact space of countable spread, and is not a continuous image of a compact totally disconnected interval space. The question whether it is consistent with ZFC, that every HCO space is homeomorphic to an ordinal, is open.     

A note on D-spaces

We introduce notions of nearly good relations and N-sticky modulo a relation as tools for proving that spaces are D-spaces. As a corollary to general results about such relations, we show that Cp(X) is hereditarily a D-space whenever X is a Lindelöf Σ-space. This answers a question of Matveev, and improves a result of Buzyakova, who proved the same result for X compact.We also prove that if a space X is the union of finitely many D-spaces, and has countable extent, then X is linearly Lindelöf. It follows that if X is in addition countably compact, then X must be compact. We also show that Corson compact spaces are hereditarily D-spaces. These last two results answer recent questions of Arhangel'skii. Finally, we answer a question of van Douwen by showing that a perfectly normal collectionwise-normal non-paracompact space constructed by R. Pol is a D-space.     

Locally compact spaces of countable core and Alexandroff compactification

We introduce a new cardinal invariant, core of a space, defined for any locally compact Hausdorff space X and denoted by cor(X). Locally compact spaces of countable core generalize locally compact σ-compact spaces in a way that is slightly exotic, but still quite natural. We show in Section 1 that under a broad range of conditions locally compact spaces of countable core must be σ-compact. In particular, normal locally compact spaces of countable core and realcompact locally compact spaces of countable core are σ-compact. Perfect mappings preserve the class of spaces of countable core in both directions (Section 2). The Alexandroff compactification aX is weakly first countable at the Alexandroff point a if and only if cor(X)=ω (Section 3). Two examples of non-σ-compact locally compact spaces of countable core are discussed in Section 3. We also extend the well-known theorem of Alexandroff and Urysohn on the cardinality of perfectly normal compacta to compacta satisfying a weak version of perfect normality. Several open problems are formulated.