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CounterexampleConstruction: AI-adaptedVerification: AI-generatedprecheck passverified 2026-08-04 (gpt-5.6-sol-codex-subscription)
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Two copies of R glued along R∖{0} give a non-Hausdorff quotient of a metrizable space, by an open quotient map

Statement refuted

Refuted: that a quotient of a Hausdorff space is Hausdorff (FALSE: a quotient of a Hausdorff space is Hausdorff, Hausdorff space: distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods; every metrizable space is Hausdorff and the indiscrete topology on two points is not).

Witness. Let S:=R⊔R=⨆i<2R be the disjoint union of two copies of the real line with its usual topology (The disjoint union (coproduct) ⨆iXi with the final topology of the canonical injections: a set is open exactly when each of its traces is, The absolute value makes R a metric space: d(x,y)=∣x−y∣ is a metric, its open balls are the intervals (x−r,x+r), and it is unbounded), so the points of S are the pairs (x,i) with x∈R and i<2. Let ∼ have as classes {(x,0),(x,1)} for x≠0 together with the two singletons {(0,0)} and {(0,1)}, let L:=S/ ⁣∼ carry the quotient topology and let q be the canonical projection (The quotient topology of a surjection, quotient maps, saturated sets, and the quotient of a space by an equivalence relation with its canonical projection). Then:

  1. S is metrizable, by the explicit metric d((x,i),(y,j))  :=  {min⁡{∣x−y∣, 1}i=j,2i≠j, which induces the disjoint union topology (Metrizable space: a topological space whose topology is induced by some metric; metrizability is topological, the metric is not, Metric space: d(x,y)=0 iff x=y, symmetry, and the triangle inequality; pseudometric and ultrametric). In particular S is Hausdorff (Hausdorff space: distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods; every metrizable space is Hausdorff and the indiscrete topology on two points is not).
  2. q is an open map, hence an open quotient map (A continuous open surjection, a continuous closed surjection, and a continuous surjection admitting a continuous section are all quotient maps): the saturation of an open set is open, being the set together with the image of its part off the two origins under the homeomorphism of S that swaps the two copies.
  3. L is not Hausdorff: the two origins a:=q(0,0) and b:=q(0,1) are distinct and every pair of open sets containing them respectively meets.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: S=⨆i<2R with the disjoint union topology; the function d above; the relation ∼, the quotient L=S/ ⁣∼ and its projection q; the points a=q(0,0) and b=q(0,1); the set N:={ (x,i)∈S:x≠0 } and the swap σ(x,i):=(x,1−i).

[A2]

q is a surjection and V⊆L is open exactly when q−1[V] is open in S; the saturation of A⊆S is q−1[q[A]] (The quotient topology of a surjection, quotient maps, saturated sets, and the quotient of a space by an equivalence relation with its canonical projection).

[L2]

∣s∣≥0 with ∣s∣=0 iff s=0, ∣s∣=∣−s∣ (Basic properties of the absolute value), and ∣s−u∣≤∣s−t∣+∣t−u∣ (The triangle inequality); the order of R is total, so two reals have a minimum, which lies in the pair and is a lower bound for it (Maximum and minimum of a set).

Counterexample

technique · direct
1.1

d satisfies (M1) and (M2): for i=j one has min⁡{∣x−y∣,1}=0 exactly when ∣x−y∣=0, that is x=y, by [L2]; for i≠j the value is 2≠0 and the two points differ; and both clauses are symmetric in the two arguments.

L1L2
1.2

d satisfies (M3). If the two outer points share a tag, the left side is at most 1; a middle point with the same tag gives min⁡{∣x−z∣,1}≤∣x−z∣≤∣x−y∣+∣y−z∣ when both right-hand terms are below 1, and a right-hand side of at least 1 otherwise, while a middle point with the other tag gives a right-hand side of 4. If the two outer points have different tags, the left side is 2 and the middle point shares a tag with at most one of them, so at least one right-hand term is 2.

L1L2
1.3

σ is a homeomorphism of S: it is its own inverse, and it carries a set U with traces U0,U1 to the set with traces U1,U0, so it preserves openness by [A1].

A1L4
1.4

a≠b, the classes {(0,0)} and {(0,1)} being distinct; and q(t,0)=q(t,1) for every t≠0.

A2
1.5

N is open in S, both of its traces being R∖{0}, which is open by [L3].

A1L3
2.1

For 0<r≤1: Bd((x,i),r)=(x−r, x+r)×{i}, since a point with the other tag is at distance 2≥r, and for the same tag min⁡{∣x−y∣,1}<r holds exactly when ∣x−y∣<r.

step 1.1L1L2L3
2.2

The saturation of U⊆S is U∪σ[U∩N]: the class of (x,i) is {(x,0),(x,1)} for x≠0 and {(x,i)} for x=0, so saturating adds exactly the swapped copies of the points of U off the two origins.

step 1.4step 1.5A2
2.3

Suppose V,W are open in L with a∈V, b∈W. Then q−1[V] and q−1[W] are open in S by [A2], containing (0,0) and (0,1) respectively, so by [A1] and [L3] there are ε,δ>0 with (−ε,ε)×{0}⊆q−1[V] and (−δ,δ)×{1}⊆q−1[W].

step 1.4A1A2L3
3.1

Td is the disjoint union topology. If W is d-open and (x,i)∈W, a ball of radius r≤1 inside W is (x−r,x+r)×{i} by step 2.1, so each trace Wi is open by [L3], whence W is open in S by [A1]; conversely if U is open in S and (x,i)∈U, then Ui is open, so [L3] gives ρ>0 with (x−ρ,x+ρ)⊆Ui, and the ball of radius min⁡{ρ,1} lies in U by step 2.1 and [L2].

step 2.1A1L1L2L3
3.2

By steps 1.3, 1.5 and 2.2 the saturation of an open U is the union of the open sets U and σ[U∩N], hence open; so q[U] is open in L by [A2], and q is an open quotient map by [L4]. This is claim 2.

step 1.3step 1.5step 2.2A2L4
3.3

With t:=min⁡{ε,δ}/2 one has 0<t<ε and t<δ by [L2] and [L3], so t≠0, and q(t,0)=q(t,1) by step 1.4 lies in V∩W; hence V∩W≠∅. As V and W were arbitrary, a and b have no disjoint open neighbourhoods, and L is not Hausdorff by [A3]. This is claim 3.

step 1.4step 2.3A3L2L3
4.1

By steps 1.1, 1.2 and 3.1 the function d is a metric inducing the topology of S, so S is metrizable and hence Hausdorff by [A3]. This is claim 1.

step 1.1step 1.2step 3.1A3L1
5.1

By step 4.1 the space S is Hausdorff, by step 3.2 the map q is a quotient map, and by step 3.3 the quotient L is not Hausdorff; so a quotient of a Hausdorff space need not be Hausdorff, which refutes the claim.

step 4.1step 3.2step 3.3∎

Remarks

  • The name. As a set, L is R with the point 0 doubled: every class other than the two origins has a unique representative (x,i) with x≠0 and is determined by x alone. Each origin has neighbourhoods that look like intervals around 0, and any two such intervals overlap away from 0, which is exactly step 3.3.

  • The metric of claim 1 is the standard truncation trick. Truncating at 1 keeps the two copies at distance 2 from each other while leaving the topology of each copy untouched, since only balls of radius at most 1 matter for the topology (step 2.1). Any bounded metric equivalent to the usual one on each copy would do.

  • Strengthening the source's separation and countability properties does not help here. S is metrizable, hence Hausdorff and first countable, and q is an open quotient map; none of that is enough. What would be needed is a condition on the relation itself, and no such condition is stated at this point in the reading order (What the theory of these constructions still owes at this point in the reading order: preservation of quotient maps under products, separation beyond Hausdorff, and the invariants that tell the glued spaces apart).

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