On box products

We prove two theorems about box products. The first theorem says that the box product of countable spaces is pseudonormal, i.e. any two disjoint closed sets one of which is countable can be separated by open sets. The second theorem says that assuming CH a certain uncountable box product is normal (i.e. <_ω1?□_α<ω1X_α where each Xα is a compact metric space).     

Almost disjoint large subsets of semigroups

There are several notions of largeness in a semigroup S that originated in topological dynamics. Among these are thick, central, syndetic and piecewise syndetic. Of these, central sets are especially interesting because they are partition regular and are guaranteed to contain substantial combinatorial structure. It is known that in (N,+) any central set may be partitioned into infinitely many pairwise disjoint central sets. We extend this result to a large class of semigroups (including (N,+)) by showing that if S is a semigroup in this class which has cardinality κ then any central set can be partitioned into κ many pairwise disjoint central sets. We also show that for this same class of semigroups, if there exists a collection of μ almost disjoint subsets of any member S, then any central subset of S contains a collection of μ almost disjoint central sets. The same statement applies if “central” is replaced by “thick”; and in the case that the semigroup is left cancellative, “central” may be replaced by “piecewise syndetic”. The situation with respect to syndetic sets is much more restrictive. For example, there does not exist an uncountable collection of almost disjoint syndetic subsets of N. We investigate the extent to which syndetic sets can be split into disjoint syndetic sets.     

Resolvability vs. almost resolvability

A space X is κ-resolvable (resp. almost κ-resolvable) if it contains κ dense sets that are pairwise disjoint (resp. almost disjoint over the ideal of nowhere dense subsets of X).Answering a problem raised by Juhász, Soukup, and Szentmiklóssy, and improving a consistency result of Comfort and Hu, we prove, in ZFC, that for every infinite cardinal κ there is an almost κ²-resolvable but not ω₁-resolvable space of dispersion character κ.     

Covering by discrete and closed discrete sets

Say that a cardinal number κ is small relative to the space X if κ<Δ(X), where Δ(X) is the least cardinality of a non-empty open set in X. We prove that no Baire metric space can be covered by a small number of discrete sets, and give some generalizations. We show a ZFC example of a regular Baire σ-space and a consistent example of a normal Baire Moore space which can be covered by a small number of discrete sets. We finish with some remarks on linearly ordered spaces.     

Monotone versions of δ-normality

According to Mack a space is countably paracompact if and only if its product with [0,1] is δ-normal, i.e. any two disjoint closed sets, one of which is a regular Gδ-set, can be separated. In studying monotone versions of countable paracompactness, one is naturally led to consider various monotone versions of δ-normality. Such properties are the subject of this paper. We look at how these properties relate to each other and prove a number of results about them, in particular, we provide a factorization of monotone normality in terms of monotone δ-normality and a weak property that holds in monotonically normal spaces and in first countable Tychonoff spaces. We also discuss the productivity of these properties with a compact metrizable space.     

Fodor-type Reflection Principle and reflection of metrizability and meta-Lindelöfness

We introduce a new reflection principle which we call “Fodor-type Reflection Principle” (FRP). This principle follows from but is strictly weaker than Fleissner's Axiom R. For instance, FRP does not impose any restriction on the size of the continuum, while Axiom R implies that the continuum has size ?ℵ₂.We show that FRP implies that every locally separable countably tight topological space X is meta-Lindelöf if all of its subspaces of cardinality ?ℵ₁ are (Theorem 4.3). It follows that, under FRP, every locally (countably) compact space is metrizable if all of its subspaces of cardinality ?ℵ₁ are (Corollary 4.4). This improves a result of Balogh who proved the same assertion under Axiom R.We also give several other results in this vein, some in ZFC, others in some further extension of ZFC. For example, we prove in ZFC that if X is a locally (countably) compact space of singular cardinality in which every subspace of smaller size is metrizable then X itself is also metrizable (Corollary 5.2).     

Sacks forcing and the total failure of Martin's Axiom

Using side-by-side Sacks forcing, it is proved relatively consistent that the continuum is large and Martin's Axiom fails totally, that is, every c.c.c. space is the union of ?₁ nowhere dense sets (equivelently, if P is a nontrivial partial ordering with the countable chain condition, then there are ?₁ dense sets in P such that no filter in P meets them all).     

Rothberger bounded groups and Ramsey theory

We show that:

(1)

Rothberger bounded subgroups of σ-compact groups are characterized by Ramseyan partition relations (Corollary 4).

(2)

For each uncountable cardinal κ there is a T₀ topological group of cardinality κ such that ONE has a winning strategy in the point-open game on the group and the group is not a closed subspace of any σ-compact space (Theorem 8).

(3)

For each uncountable cardinal κ there is a T₀ topological group of cardinality κ such that ONE has a winning strategy in the point-open game on the group and the group is σ-compact (Corollary 17).

     

On a question by Alexey Ostrovsky concerning preservation of completeness

Let be a surjection of a zero-dimensional metrizable X onto a metrizable Y which maps clopen sets in X to locally closed (or more generally, resolvable) sets in Y. We prove that if X is completely metrizable, or hereditarily Baire, then Y has also the respective property. This strengthens some recent results of A. Ostrovsky (2009) [5] and provides an answer to his question.     

Separate continuity, joint continuity, the Lindelöf property and p-spaces

In this paper we prove a theorem more general than the following. Suppose that X is ?ech-complete and Y is a closed subset of a product of a separable metric space with a compact Hausdorff space. Then for each separately continuous function there exists a residual set R in X such that f is jointly continuous at each point of R×Y. This confirms the suspicions of S. Mercourakis and S. Negrepontis from 1991.     

Some generalizations of the concept of a p-space

In this article, some generalizations of the concept of a p-space are introduced and studied. The notion of a source of a space in a larger space and the concepts of partial plumage, s-embedding, p-embedding, p^?-embedding, s-space, and p^?-space are defined and studied in depth (see Theorems 2.6, 2.7, 3.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.10 and their corollaries). An example of a hereditarily p^?-space which is not a p-space and is a perfect image of a hereditarily p-space is indicated (Example 2.9). Among the main results, we establish that if a paracompact space X is p-embedded in a pseudocompact space as a dense subspace, then X is a p-space (Corollary 4.8), and that if X has a countable network and is p^?-embedded in a pseudocompact space, then X is metrizable (Corollary 4.11). The following problem is posed: is every paracompact Gδ-subspace of a pseudocompact space ?ech-complete?     

There is no upper bound of small transfinite compactness degree in metrizable spaces

In [J.M. Aarts, T. Nishiura, Dimension and Extensions, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1993], Aarts and Nishiura investigated several types of dimensions modulo a class P of spaces. These dimension functions have natural transfinite extensions. The small transfinite compactness degree trcmp is such transfinite dimension function extending the small compactness degree cmp. We shall prove that there is no upper bound for trcmp in the class of metrizable spaces, i.e. for each ordinal number α there exists a metrizable space Xα such that trcmpXα=α. We also give a characterization of the dimension dim of a separable (compact) metrizable space in terms of the function cmp of the product of this space with a nowhere locally compact zero-dimensional factor.     

Zero-dimensional proximities and zero-dimensional compactifications

We introduce zero-dimensional proximities and show that the poset 〈Z(X),?〉 of inequivalent zero-dimensional compactifications of a zero-dimensional Hausdorff space X is isomorphic to the poset 〈Π(X),?〉 of zero-dimensional proximities on X that induce the topology on X. This solves a problem posed by Leo Esakia. We also show that 〈Π(X),?〉 is isomorphic to the poset 〈B(X),⊆〉 of Boolean bases of X, and derive Dwinger's theorem that 〈Z(X),?〉 is isomorphic to 〈B(X),⊆〉 as a corollary. As another corollary, we obtain that for a regular extremally disconnected space X, the Stone-?ech compactification of X is a unique up to equivalence extremally disconnected compactification of X.     

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.     

New basic result in classical descriptive set theory: Preservation of completeness

The aim of this note is to prove the following result:Assume that f is a continuous function from the space of irrationals ωω onto Y such that the image f(U) of every set U which is open and closed in ωω is the union of one open and one closed set. Then Y is a completely metrizable space.     

On a class of pseudocompact spaces derived from ring epimorphisms

A Tychonoff space X is RG if the embedding of C(X)→C(Xδ) is an epimorphism of rings. Compact RG-spaces are known and easily described. We study the pseudocompact RG-spaces. These must be scattered of finite Cantor Bendixon degree but need not be locally compact. However, under strong hypotheses, (countable compactness, or small cardinality) these spaces must, indeed, be compact. The main theorems shows, how to construct a suitable maximal almost disjoint family, and apply it to obtain examples of RG-spaces that are almost compact, locally compact, non-compact, almost-P, and of Cantor Bendixon degree 2. More complicated examples of pseudocompact non-compact RG-spaces ensue.     

Total boundedness and bornologies

A set A in a metric space is called totally bounded if for each ε>0 the set can be ε-approximated by a finite set. If this can be done, the finite set can always be chosen inside A. If the finite sets are replaced by an arbitrary approximating family of sets, this coincidence may disappear. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for the coincidence assuming only that the family is closed under finite unions. A complete analysis of the structure of totally bounded sets is presented in the case that the approximating family is a bornology, where approximation in either sense amounts to approximation in Hausdorff distance by members of the bornology.     

Quotient-reflective and bireflective subcategories of the category of preordered sets

In previous papers, the notions of “closedness” and “strong closedness” in set-based topological categories were introduced. In this paper, we give the characterization of closed and strongly closed subobjects of an object in the category Prord of preordered sets and show that they form appropriate closure operators which enjoy the basic properties like idempotency (weak) hereditariness, and productivity.We investigate the relationships between these closure operators and the well-known ones, the up- and down-closures. As a consequence, we characterize each of T₀, T₁, and T₂ preordered sets and show that each of the full subcategories of each of T₀, T₁, T₂ preordered sets is quotient-reflective in Prord. Furthermore, we give the characterization of each of pre-Hausdorff preordered sets and zero-dimensional preordered sets, and show that there is an isomorphism of the full subcategory of zero-dimensional preordered sets and the full subcategory of pre-Hausdorff preordered sets. Finally, we show that both of these subcategories are bireflective in Prord.     

The Sarkovskii order for periodic continua

Suppose f is a map of a continuum X onto itself. A periodic continuum of f is a subcontinuum K of X such that fn[K]=K for some positive integer n. A proper periodic continuum of f is a periodic continuum of f that is a proper subcontinuum of X. A proper periodic continuum of f is maximal if and only if X is the only periodic continuum that properly contains it. In this paper it is shown that the maximal proper periodic continua of a map of a hereditarily decomposable chainable continuum onto itself follow the Sarkovskii order, provided the maximal proper periodic continua are disjoint. The case in which the Sarkovskii order does not hold reduces to the scenario in which the map's domain is the union of two overlapping period-two continua, each of which is maximal.     

Mappings onto metric spaces

We give characterizations of perfect images and open and compact images of spaces that can be mapped onto metrizable spaces by a mapping with fibers having a given property $\text{P}$. We use these characterizations to obtain conditions which imply that such images can be mapped onto a metric space by a mapping with fibers satisfying $\text{P}$. Such a treatment includes the investigation of spaces with a weaker metric topology [2, Ch. 5].