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TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-adaptedprecheck passverified 2026-08-05 (gpt-5.6-sol-codex-subscription)‡ rests on unproved material
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Assuming dependent choice, every locally compact Hausdorff space is a Baire space

Statement

Assume the Axiom of Dependent Choice (The axiom of dependent choice: a relation in which every element is related to something admits an N-indexed chain).

Let (X,T) be a locally compact Hausdorff space (Locally compact topological space: every point has a compact neighbourhood; and what this says in a metric space, Hausdorff space: distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods; every metrizable space is Hausdorff and the indiscrete topology on two points is not, Topology on a set, open and closed sets, clopen sets, the closed-set axiomatisation, and the coarser/finer comparison). Then X is a Baire space (Baire space: a topological space in which every countable intersection of dense open subsets is dense): for every sequence (Un)n∈N of dense open subsets of X (Dense, nowhere dense and codense subsets of a topological space, and the criterion by basic open sets, Convergence and cluster points of a sequence in a topological space, sequential continuity, and the sequential closure), the intersection ⋂n∈NUn is dense in X.

Dependent choice is sufficient here and no claim of necessity is made. The several statements that go by the name "Baire category theorem" have different choice-theoretic statuses over ZF. The compact Hausdorff version is equivalent to dependent multiple choice; DC implies DMC in ZF, the reversal remains open in ZF, and DMC does not imply DC in ZFA. That account is Choice strengths of Baire category principles over ZF ‡, which this library states and does not prove. Nothing below asserts that dependent choice is needed for the statement above.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A locally compact Hausdorff space (X,T), a sequence (Un)n∈N of dense open subsets of X, and the Axiom of Dependent Choice.

[L1]
[L5]

A space is compact exactly when every family of its closed subsets with the finite intersection property has nonempty intersection (A space is compact exactly when every family of closed subsets with the finite intersection property has nonempty intersection).

[L6]

Assuming dependent choice: if A is nonempty and (Rn)n∈N are relations on A such that every u∈A has some v∈A with uRnv, then for every a0∈A there is a:N→A with a(0)=a0 and a(n)Rna(n+1) for every n (Dependent choice along a sequence of relations: if Rn is entire on A for every n, then from any a there is a sequence with anRnan+1, Convergence and cluster points of a sequence in a topological space, sequential continuity, and the sequential closure, The natural numbers N (von Neumann)).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

By [L1] it suffices to show that every nonempty open W⊆X meets ⋂n∈NUn; if X has no nonempty open subset the requirement is vacuous and there is nothing to prove, so fix a nonempty open W.

L1suffices: every nonempty open W meets the intersection
2.1

W∩U0 is open and nonempty, U0 being dense and W nonempty open; fixing a point of it, [L2] gives an open V0 with that point in V0 and V0‾⊆W∩U0, with V0‾ a compact subset of X. In particular V0 is nonempty.

L1L2step 1.1
3.1

Let A be the set of nonempty open V⊆X whose closure V‾ is a compact subset of X; it contains V0 by step 2.1, so it is nonempty. For n∈N define a relation Rn on A by declaring VRnV′ to hold exactly when V′‾⊆V∩Un+1.

L1step 2.1construct
4.1

Each Rn is entire on A: given V∈A, the set V∩Un+1 is open and nonempty, Un+1 being dense and V nonempty open, so fixing a point of it and applying [L2] gives an open V′ containing that point with V′‾⊆V∩Un+1 and V′‾ compact; then V′∈A and VRnV′. This is a pure existence statement and selects nothing, which is why dependent choice and nothing stronger is spent below.

L1L2step 3.1
5.1

By [L6] applied to A, the relations Rn and the point V0, there is a sequence (Vn)n∈N in A with V0 as given and Vn+1‾⊆Vn∩Un+1 for every n∈N.

L6step 3.1step 4.1
6.1

The sets Vn‾ are nonempty, since Vn is nonempty and Vn⊆Vn‾ by [L3], and they decrease: Vn+1‾⊆Vn⊆Vn‾ by step 5.1 and [L3]. Each is a compact subset of X and hence closed in X by [L3], so each is the trace of a closed set on V0‾ and therefore closed in the subspace V0‾ by [L4].

L3L4step 5.1
7.1

The family { Vn‾:n∈N } of closed subsets of the compact space V0‾ has the finite intersection property: the intersection of the empty list is V0‾, which is nonempty, and the intersection of a nonempty finite list is VN‾ for N the greatest of the indices occurring, the sets being decreasing, and that is nonempty. So [L5] gives a point x∈⋂n∈NVn‾.

L4L5step 6.1
8.1

That point lies in W∩⋂n∈NUn: from x∈V0‾⊆W∩U0 it lies in W and in U0, and for every n∈N it lies in Vn+1‾⊆Vn∩Un+1⊆Un+1, so it lies in Um for m=0 and for every m of the form n+1, that is in every Um.

step 2.1step 5.1step 7.1
9.1

So every nonempty open W meets ⋂n∈NUn, which by [L1] makes that intersection dense; as (Un) was an arbitrary sequence of dense open sets, X is a Baire space.

L1step 1.1step 8.1∎

Remarks

Where each hypothesis is spent. Local compactness and the Hausdorff condition enter only through [L2], the shrinking clause of In a locally compact Hausdorff space every point has a neighbourhood base of compact sets, every open subspace and every closed subspace is locally compact, every open set around a point contains an open set with compact closure inside it, and every compact set sits inside an open set with compact closure, which is used twice: once to start the construction and once to continue it. Compactness of V0‾ is used once, at step 7.1, to turn a decreasing sequence of nonempty closed sets into a common point; that is the finite intersection characterisation A space is compact exactly when every family of closed subsets with the finite intersection property has nonempty intersection and nothing else.

Why the stage-dependent form of dependent choice is needed. The n-th shrinking must land inside Un+1, so the admissible successors of V change with n; that is a family of relations and not a relation, and The axiom of dependent choice: a relation in which every element is related to something admits an N-indexed chain as stated applies to a single relation on a single set. Dependent choice along a sequence of relations: if Rn is entire on A for every n, then from any a there is a sequence with anRnan+1 is exactly the bridge, and it costs nothing beyond dependent choice itself.

Each Un is used exactly once. The base step consumes U0 and the step from Vn to Vn+1 consumes Un+1, so as n ranges over N every index is consumed and none twice. Since N contains 0, dropping the base step would leave U0 untouched and the conclusion false as stated; the accounting is checked at step 8.1, where membership in Um is established separately for m=0 and for m=n+1.

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

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Sources