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.     

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).     

Supremum vs. maximum: λ-sets

We show that, relative to the existence of an inaccessible cardinal, it is consistent that there is no λ-set of maximal size and that in the absence of inaccessible cardinals there is a λ-set of maximal size.     

The cardinal characteristic for relative γ-sets

For X a separable metric space define p(X) to be the smallest cardinality of a subset Z of X which is not a relative γ-set in X, i.e., there exists an ω-cover of X with no γ-subcover of Z. We give a characterization of p(ω²) and p(ωω) in terms of definable free filters on ω which is related to the pseudo-intersection number p. We show that for every uncountable standard analytic space X that either p(X)=p(ω²) or p(X)=p(ωω). We show that the following statements are each relatively consistent with ZFC: (a) p=p(ωω)<p(ω²) and (b) p<p(ωω)=p(ω²)     

Remote points in products under CH

Assume CH. Let I be any index set, and let Xi, for i∈I, be a completely regular ccc topological space of weight ω₂. If X=_∏i∈IXi is ccc and non-pseudocompact, then X has remote points.     

Cofinal types of ultrafilters

We study Tukey types of ultrafilters on ω, focusing on the question of when Tukey reducibility is equivalent to Rudin-Keisler reducibility. We give several conditions under which this equivalence holds. We show that there are only c many ultrafilters that are Tukey below any basically generated ultrafilter. The class of basically generated ultrafilters includes all known ultrafilters that are not Tukey above [ω₁]^<ω. We give a complete characterization of all ultrafilters that are Tukey below a selective. A counterexample showing that Tukey reducibility and RK reducibility can diverge within the class of P-points is also given.     

Compact spaces, elementary submodels, and the countable chain condition, II

Given a space 〈X,T〉 in an elementary submodel of H(θ), define XM to be X∩M with the topology generated by . It is established that if XM is compact and satisfies the countable chain condition, while X is not scattered and has cardinality less than the first inaccessible cardinal, then X=XM. If the character of XM is a member of M, then “inaccessible” may be replaced by “1-extendible”.     

Set-theoretic constructions of nonshrinking open covers

A family {M_α|α?A} is a shrinking of a cover {O_α|α?A} of a topological space if {M_α|α?A} also covers and M_α?O_α for all α?A.?⁺⁺ implies that there is a normal space such that every increasing open cover of it has a clopen shrinking but there is an open cover having no closed shrinking.? implies that there is a P-space (i.e. a space having a normal product with every metric space), which has an increasing open cover having no closed shrinking. This space is used in [17] to show that any space which has a normal product with every P-space is metrizable.     

Covering a bounded set of functions by an increasing chain of slaloms

A slalom is a sequence of finite sets of length ω. Slaloms are ordered by coordinatewise inclusion with finitely many exceptions. Improving earlier results of Mildenberger, Shelah and Tsaban, we prove consistency results concerning existence and non-existence of an increasing sequence of a certain type of slaloms which covers a bounded set of functions in ωω.     

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).     

A normal screenable non-paracompact space

We construct a normal screenable non-paracompact spaces using ?⁺⁺, which is a consequence of V = L.     

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.     

Projective mad families

Using almost disjoint coding we prove the consistency of the existence of a definable ω-mad family of infinite subsets of ω (resp. functions from ω to ω) together with b=2^ω=ω₂.     

There are no hereditary productive γ-spaces

We show that if X is an uncountable productive γ-set [F. Jordan, Productive local properties of function spaces, Topology Appl. 154 (2007) 870-883], then there is a countable Y⊆X such that X?Y is not Hurewicz.Along the way we answer a question of A. Miller by showing that an increasing countable union of γ-spaces is again a γ-space. We will also show that λ-spaces with the Hurewicz property are precisely those spaces for which every co-countable set is Hurewicz.     

Cardinal sequences of LCS spaces under GCH

Let C(α) denote the class of all cardinal sequences of length α associated with compact scattered spaces. Also put

C_λ(α)={f∈C(α):f(0)=λ=min[f(β):β<α]}.     

On a core concept of Arhangel'ski?

Arhangel'ski? [A.V. Arhangel'ski?, Locally compact spaces of countable core and Alexandroff compactification, Topology Appl. 154 (2007) 625-634] has introduced a weakening of σ-compactness: having a countable core, for locally compact spaces, and asked when it is equivalent to σ-compactness. We settle several problems related to that paper.     

On extremally disconnected topological groups

We introduce the notion of a partially selective ultrafilter and prove that (a) if G is an extremally disconnected topological group and p is a converging nonprincipal ultrafilter on G containing a countable discrete subset, then p is partially selective, and (b) the existence of a nonprincipal partially selective ultrafilter on a countable set implies the existence of a P-point in ω^∗. Thus it is consistent with ZFC that there is no extremally disconnected topological group containing a countable discrete nonclosed subset.     

How many miles to βX? II — Approximations to βX versus cofinal types of sets of metrics

Kada, Tomoyasu and Yoshinobu proved that the Stone-?ech compactification of a locally compact separable metrizable space is approximated by the collection of d-many Smirnov compactifications, where d is the dominating number. By refining the proof of this result, we will show that the collection of compatible metrics on a locally compact separable metrizable space has the same cofinal type, in the sense of Tukey relation, as the set of functions from ω to ω with respect to eventually dominating order.     

A new bound on the cardinality of homogeneous compacta

We show (in ZFC) that if X is a compact homogeneous Hausdorff space then |X|?²t(X), where t(X) denotes the tightness of X. It follows that under GCH the character and the tightness of such a space coincide.     

The combinatorics of τ-covers

We solve four out of the six open problems concerning critical cardinalities of topological diagonalization properties involving τ-covers, show that the remaining two cardinals are equal, and give a consistency result concerning this remaining cardinal. Consequently, 21 open problems concerning potential implications between these properties are settled. We also give structural results based on the combinatorial techniques.