Countable connected Hausdorff and Urysohn bunches of arcs in the plane

In this paper, we answer a question by Krasinkiewicz, Reńska and Sobolewski by constructing countable connected Hausdorff and Urysohn spaces as quotient spaces of bunches of arcs in the plane. We also consider a generalization of graphs by allowing vertices to be continua and replacing edges by not necessarily connected sets. We require only that two “vertices” be in the same quasi-component of the “edge” that contains them. We observe that if a graph G cannot be embedded in the plane, then any generalized graph modeled on G is not embeddable in the plane. As a corollary we obtain not planar bunches of arcs with their natural quotients Hausdorff or Urysohn. This answers another question by Krasinkiewicz, Reńska and Sobolewski.     

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.     

Weak separation axioms and weak covering properties

We identify some remnants of normality and call them rudimentary normality, generalize the concept of submetacompact spaces to that of a weakly subparacompact space and that of a weakly^? subparacompact space, and make a simultaneous generalization of collectionwise normality and screenability with the introduction of what is to be called collectionwise σ-normality. With these weak properties, we show that,1) on weakly subparacompact spaces, countable compactness = compactness, ω₁-compactness = Lindelöfness;2) on weakly subparacompact Hausdorff spaces with rudimentary normality, regularity = normality = countable paracompactness; and3) on weakly subparacompact regular T₁-spaces with rudimentary normality, collectionwise σ-normality = screenability = collectionwise normality = paracompactness.The famous Normal Moore Space Conjecture is thus given an even more striking appearance and Worrell and Wicke?s factorization of paracompactness (over Hausdorff spaces) along with Krajewski?s are combined and strengthened. The methodology extends itself to the factorization of paracompactness on locally compact, locally connected spaces in the manner of Gruenhage and on locally compact spaces in that of Tall, and to the factorization of subparacompactness and metacompactness in the genre of Katuta, Chaber, Junnila and Price and Smith and that of Boone, improving all of them.     

The D-property in unions of scattered spaces

We show in a direct way that a space is D if it is a finite union of subparacompact scattered spaces. This result cannot be extended to countable unions, since it is known that there is a regular space which is a countable union of paracompact scattered spaces and which is not D. Nevertheless, we show that every space which is the union of countably many regular Lindelöf C-scattered spaces has the D-property. Also, we prove that a space is D if it is a locally finite union of regular Lindelöf C-scattered spaces.     

Cut points in some connected topological spaces

We prove that a connected topological space with endpoints has exactly two non-cut points and every cut point is a strong cut point; it follows that such a space is a COTS and the only two non-cut points turn out to be endpoints (in each of the two orders) of the COTS. A non-indiscrete connected topological space with exactly two non-cut points and having only finitely many closed points is proved homeomorphic to a finite subspace of the Khalimsky line. Further, it is shown, without assuming any separation axiom, that in a connected and locally connected topological space X, for a, b in X, S[a,b] is compact whenever it is closed. Using this result we show that an H(i) connected and locally connected topological space with exactly two non-cut points is a compact COTS with end points.     

Transitivity is neither hereditary nor finitely productive

We construct a transitive space that is the union of two subspaces homeomorphic to the (non-transitive) Kofner plane. Moreover, we show that the product of two transitive spaces need not be transitive. Finally, we observe that results of E.K. van Douwen establish that, under b = c, there exists a locally countable locally compact non-transitive zero-dimensional space. It follows that under b = c neither a locally transitive nor a compact space need be transitive.     

Non-regular power homogeneous spaces

We show that the cardinality of any space X with Δ-power homogeneous semiregularization that is either Urysohn or quasiregular is bounded by ²c(X)πχ(X). This improves a result of G.J. Ridderbos who showed this bound holds for Δ-power homogeneous regular spaces. By introducing the notion of a local πθ-base, we show that this bound can be further sharpened. We also show that no H-closed extremally disconnected space is power homogeneous. This is a variation of a result of K. Kunen who showed that no compact F-space is power homogeneous.     

Weakly continuously Urysohn spaces

We study weakly continuously Urysohn spaces, which were introduced in [P.L. Zenor, Continuously extending partial functions, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 135 (1) (2007) 305-312]. We show that every weakly continuously Urysohn wΔ-space has a base of countable order, that separable weakly continuously Urysohn spaces are submetrizable, hence continuously Urysohn, that monotonically normal weakly continuously Urysohn spaces are hereditarily paracompact, and that no linear extension of any uncountable subspace of the Sorgenfrey line is weakly continuously Urysohn. These results generalize various results in the literature concerning continuously Urysohn spaces.     

Almost maximal spaces

A topological space X is called almost maximal if it is without isolated points and for every x∈X, there are only finitely many ultrafilters on X converging to x. We associate with every countable regular homogeneous almost maximal space X a finite semigroup Ult(X) so that if X and Y are homeomorphic, Ult(X) and Ult(Y) are isomorphic. Semigroups Ult(X) are projectives in the category F of finite semigroups. These are bands decomposing into a certain chain of rectangular components. Under MA, for each projective S in F, there is a countable almost maximal topological group G with Ult(G) isomorphic to S. The existence of a countable almost maximal topological group cannot be established in ZFC. However, there are in ZFC countable regular homogeneous almost maximal spaces X with Ult(X) being a chain of idempotents.     

Almost disjoint families of connected sets

We investigate the question which (separable metrizable) spaces have a ‘large’ almost disjoint family of connected (and locally connected) sets. Every compact space of dimension at least 2 as well as all compact spaces containing an ‘uncountable star’ have such a family. Our results show that the situation for 1-dimensional compacta is unclear.     

Proper forcing axiom and selective separability

We continue the study of Selectively Separable (SS) and, a game-theoretic strengthening, strategically selectively separable spaces (SS⁺) (see Barman, Dow (2011) [1]). The motivation for studying SS⁺ is that it is a property possessed by all separable subsets of Cp(X) for each σ-compact space X. We prove that the winning strategy for countable SS⁺ spaces can be chosen to be Markov. We introduce the notion of being compactlike for a collection of open sets in a topological space and with the help of this notion we prove that there are two countable SS⁺ spaces such that the union fails to be SS⁺, which contrasts the known result about SS spaces. We also prove that the product of two countable SS⁺ spaces is again countable SS⁺. One of the main results in this paper is that the proper forcing axiom, PFA, implies that the product of two countable Fréchet spaces is SS, a statement that was shown in Barman, Dow (2011) [1] to consistently fail. An auxiliary result is that it is consistent with the negation of CH that all separable Fréchet spaces have π-weight at most ω₁.     

Hereditarily strongly cwH and other separation axioms

We explore the relation between two general kinds of separation properties. The first kind, which includes the classical separation properties of regularity and normality, has to do with expanding two disjoint closed sets, or dense subsets of each, to disjoint open sets. The second kind has to do with expanding discrete collections of points, or full-cardinality subcollections thereof, to disjoint or discrete collections of open sets. The properties of being collectionwise Hausdorff (cwH), of being strongly cwH, and of being wD(ℵ₁), fall into the second category. We study the effect on other separation properties if these properties are assumed to hold hereditarily. In the case of scattered spaces, we show that (a) the hereditarily cwH ones are α-normal and (b) a regular one is hereditarily strongly cwH iff it is hereditarily cwH and hereditarily β-normal. Examples are given in ZFC of (1) hereditarily strongly cwH spaces which fail to be regular, including one that also fails to be α-normal; (2) hereditarily strongly cwH regular spaces which fail to be normal and even, in one case, to be β-normal; (3) hereditarily cwH spaces which fail to be α-normal. We characterize those regular spaces X such that X×(ω+1) is hereditarily strongly cwH and, as a corollary, obtain a consistent example of a locally compact, first countable, hereditarily strongly cwH, non-normal space. The ZFC-independence of several statements involving the hereditarily wD(ℵ₁) property is established. In particular, several purely topological statements involving this property are shown to be equivalent to b=ω₁.     

More on continuously Urysohn spaces

We study the properties of weakly continuously Urysohn and continuously Urysohn spaces. We show that being a (weakly) continuously Urysohn space is not a multiplicative property, and that this property is not preserved under perfect maps. However, being a weakly continuously Urysohn space is preserved under perfect open maps. By using the scattering process, we show that the class of protometrizable spaces is also contained in the class of continuously Urysohn space. We also give a characterization of the continuously Urysohn property for well-ordered spaces, and prove that a paracompact locally continuously Urysohn ordered space is continuously Urysohn.     

A study of cut points in connected topological spaces

We prove that every H(i) subset H of a connected space X such that there is no proper connected subset of X containing H, contains at least two non-cut points of X. This is used to prove that a connected space X is a COTS with endpoints if and only if X has at most two non-cut points and has an H(i) subset H such that there is no proper connected subset of X containing H. Also we obtain some other characterizations of COTS with endpoints and some characterizations of the closed unit interval.     

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.     

On isometrically universal spaces, mappings, and actions of groups

In this paper we first consider some well-known classes of separable metric spaces which are isometrically ω-saturated (see [S.D. Iliadis, Universal Spaces and Mappings, North-Holland Mathematics Studies, vol. 198, Elsevier, 2005, xvi+559]) and, therefore, contain isometrically universal spaces. We put some problems concerning such spaces most of which are related with the properties of the isometrically universal Urysohn space. Furthermore, using the defined notions of isometrically universal mappings and G-spaces (which are analogies of the notion of isometrically universal spaces) we introduce the notions of an isometrically ω-saturated class of mappings and an isometrically ω-saturated class of G-spaces (in which there are “many” isometrically universal elements). We prove that all results of Sections 6.1 and 7.1 of [S.D. Iliadis, Universal Spaces and Mappings, North-Holland Mathematics Studies, vol. 198, Elsevier, 2005, xvi+559] can be reformulated for isometrically ω-saturated classes of spaces and G-spaces, respectively. In particular, we prove that if D and R are isometrically ω-saturated classes of spaces, then the class of all mappings with the domain in D and range in R is an isometrically ω-saturated class of mappings and, therefore, in this class there are isometrically universal elements. As a corollary of this result we have that since the class of all mappings is isometrically ω-saturated, in this class there are isometrically universal mappings. Similarly, if G is an arbitrary separable metric group and P is an isometrically ω-saturated class of spaces, then the class of all G-spaces (X,F), where X is an element of P, is an isometrically ω-saturated class of G-spaces and, therefore, in this class there are isometrically universal elements. In particular, for any separable metric group G, in the class of all G-spaces there are isometrically universal G-spaces. We also pose some problems concerning isometrically universal mappings and G-spaces some of which concern the Urysohn space.     

Rigid continua and transfinite inductive dimension

We introduce a general method of resolving first countable, compact spaces that allows accurate estimate of inductive dimensions. We apply this method to construct, inter alia, for each ordinal number α>1 of cardinality ?c, a rigid, first countable, non-metrizable continuum Sα with . Sα is the increment in some compactification of [0,1) and admits a fully closed, ring-like map onto a metric continuum. Moreover, every subcontinuum of Sα is separable. Additionally, Sα can be constructed so as to be: (1) a hereditarily indecomposable Anderson-Choquet continuum with covering dimension a given natural number n, provided α>n, (2) a hereditarily decomposable and chainable weak Cook continuum, (3) a hereditarily decomposable and chainable Cook continuum, provided α is countable, (4) a hereditarily indecomposable Cook continuum with covering dimension one, or (5) a Cook continuum with covering dimension two, provided α>2.We also produce a chainable and hereditarily decomposable space Sω(c⁺) with , , trind₀Sω(c⁺) and trInd₀Sω(c⁺) all equal to ω(c⁺), the first ordinal of cardinality c⁺.     

On the resolvability of locally connected spaces

We solve a problem of Padmavally about resolvability of locally connected spaces, in the case where the space under consideration is regular.

     

Counting metric spaces

If κ is a cardinal number, then any class of mutually non-homeomorphic metric spaces of size κ must be a set whose cardinality cannot exceed 2 ^κ . Our main result is a vivid construction of 2 ^κ mutually non-homeomorphic complete and both path connected and locally path connected metric spaces of size κ for each cardinal number κ from continuum up. Additionally we also deal with counting problems concerning countable metric spaces and Euclidean spaces.     

On open ultrafilters and maximal points

In this work we expand upon the theory of open ultrafilters in the setting of regular spaces. In [E. van Douwen, Remote points, Dissertationes Math. (Rozprawy Mat.) 188 (1981) 1-45], van Douwen showed that if X is a non-feebly compact Tychonoff space with a countable π-base, then βX has a remote point. We develop a related result for the class of regular spaces which shows that in a non-feebly compact regular space X with a countable π-base, there exists a free open ultrafilter on X that is also a regular filter.Of central importance is a result of Mooney [D.D. Mooney, H-bounded sets, Topology Proc. 18 (1993) 195-207] that characterizes open ultrafilters as open filters that are saturated and disjoint-prime. Smirnov [J.M. Smirnov, Some relations on the theory of dimensions, Mat. Sb. 29 (1951) 157-172] showed that maximal completely regular filters are disjoint prime, from which it was concluded that βX is a perfect extension for a Tychonoff space X. We extend this result, and other results of Skljarenko [E.G. Skljarenko, Some questions in the theory of bicompactifications, Amer. Math. Soc. Transl. Ser. 2 58 (1966) 216-266], by showing that a maximal regular filter on any Hausdorff space is disjoint prime.Open ultrafilters are integral to the study of maximal points and lower topologies in the partial order of Hausdorff topologies on a fixed set. We show that a maximal point in a Hausdorff space cannot have a neighborhood base of feebly compact neighborhoods. One corollary is that no locally countably compact Hausdorff topology is a lower topology, which was shown previously under the additional assumption of countable tightness by Alas and Wilson [O. Alas, R. Wilson, Which topologies can have immediate successors in the lattice of T₁-topologies? Appl. Gen. Topol. 5 (2004) 231-242]. Another is that a maximal point in a feebly compact space is not a regular point. This generalizes results of both Carlson [N. Carlson, Lower upper topologies in the Hausdorff partial order on a fixed set, Topology Appl. 154 (2007) 619-624] and Costantini [C. Costantini, On some questions about posets of topologies on a fixed set, Topology Proc. 32 (2008) 187-225].