Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-adaptedprecheck passjudge pass (z-ai/glm-5.2)verified 2026-07-29 (claude-fable-5)
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

In a Hausdorff space a point and a disjoint compact set, and two disjoint compact sets, have disjoint open neighbourhoods; hence every compact subset is closed, and in a compact Hausdorff space the compact subsets are exactly the closed ones

Statement

Let (X,T) be a Hausdorff topological 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), with compact subsets as in Open cover, subcover, and compact topological space; a compact subset is a subspace that is compact in its own right. Then:

  1. A point and a disjoint compact set are separated. If K⊆X is compact and x∈X∖K, there are U,V∈T with x∈U,K⊆V,U∩V=∅.
  2. Two disjoint compact sets are separated. If K,L⊆X are compact and K∩L=∅, there are U,V∈T with L⊆U,K⊆V,U∩V=∅.
  3. Compact implies closed. Every compact subset of X is closed in X.
  4. In a compact Hausdorff space the two classes coincide. If in addition (X,T) is compact, then a subset of X is compact if and only if it is closed.

The proof is written choice-free, and that is not a stylistic preference. The textbook argument says "for each y∈K choose disjoint open Uy,Vy", which is a selection over an arbitrary index set and therefore an appeal to the full Axiom of Choice. What is done below instead is to take the family of all open V that admit some open U∋x disjoint from them — a family cut out by a formula, with nothing selected — extract a finite subcover from it, and only then make finitely many selections, which Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values supplies as a theorem of ZF.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A Hausdorff topological space (X,T).

[A1]

For all x,y∈X with x≠y there are U,V∈T with x∈U, y∈V and U∩V=∅ (Hausdorff space: distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods; every metrizable space is Hausdorff and the indiscrete topology on two points is not).

[L1]

∅ and X are open, an arbitrary union of open sets is open, the intersection of finitely many open sets is open when at least one is taken, and a subset is closed exactly when its complement is open (Topology on a set, open and closed sets, clopen sets, the closed-set axiomatisation, and the coarser/finer comparison).

[L3]

A function with domain a natural number all of whose values are nonempty sets has a choice function, and this is a theorem of ZF (Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values).

[L4]

A closed subset of a compact space is a compact subset of it (A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a finite union of compact subspaces is compact, claim 1).

Proof

technique · direct
1.1

For claim 1 fix a compact K⊆X and a point x∈X∖K, and put V:={ V∈T:U∩V=∅ for some U∈T with x∈U }, a family cut out by a property of V alone and not by any selection.

construct
2.1

K⊆⋃V: given y∈K we have y≠x, since x∉K, so [A1] provides U,V∈T with x∈U, y∈V and U∩V=∅; that V belongs to V and contains y.

A1step 1.1
3.1

If K=∅ then U:=X and V:=∅ satisfy claim 1; otherwise [L2] applied to the family V gives n∈N and V0,…,Vn∈V with K⊆V0∪⋯∪Vn.

L1L2step 1.1step 2.1
4.1

For each j≤n the set Sj:={ U∈T:x∈U and U∩Vj=∅ } is nonempty, because Vj∈V; and j↦Sj is a function with domain the natural number σ(n), so a choice function for its values supplies U0,…,Un∈T with x∈Uj and Uj∩Vj=∅ for every j≤n.

L3step 3.1
5.1

Put U:=U0∩⋯∩Un and V:=V0∪⋯∪Vn; both are open by [L1], x∈U because x∈Uj for every j, K⊆V by step 3.1, and U∩V=∅ because a point of U∩V would lie in some Vj and in U⊆Uj, contradicting Uj∩Vj=∅. So claim 1 holds.

L1step 3.1step 4.1
6.1

For claim 3 let K⊆X be compact and put G:=⋃{ W∈T:W∩K=∅ }, which is open by [L1]. Every member of the union misses K, so G⊆X∖K; conversely for x∈X∖K claim 1, proved at step 5.1, gives disjoint open U∋x and V⊇K, whence U∩K=∅ and x∈U⊆G. So G=X∖K is open, K is closed, and claim 3 holds.

L1step 5.1
6.2

For claim 2 let K,L⊆X be compact with K∩L=∅, and put W:={ W∈T:V∩W=∅ for some V∈T with K⊆V }, again cut out by a property. Then L⊆⋃W: for y∈L we have y∉K, so claim 1, proved at step 5.1, gives disjoint open U∋y and V⊇K, and that U lies in W and contains y.

step 5.1construct
7.1

If L=∅ then U:=∅ and V:=X satisfy claim 2; otherwise [L2] applied to W gives m∈N and W0,…,Wm∈W with L⊆W0∪⋯∪Wm.

L1L2step 6.2
8.1

For each j≤m the set Tj:={ V∈T:K⊆V and V∩Wj=∅ } is nonempty, because Wj∈W; and j↦Tj is a function with domain the natural number σ(m), so a choice function for its values supplies V0,…,Vm∈T with K⊆Vj and Vj∩Wj=∅ for every j≤m.

L3step 7.1
9.1

Put U:=W0∪⋯∪Wm and V:=V0∩⋯∩Vm; both are open by [L1], L⊆U by step 7.1, K⊆V because K⊆Vj for every j, and U∩V=∅ because a point of U∩V would lie in some Wj and in V⊆Vj, contradicting Vj∩Wj=∅. So claim 2 holds.

L1step 7.1step 8.1
10.1

For claim 4 assume (X,T) is also compact: a compact subset of X is closed by step 6.1, and a closed subset of X is compact by [L4], so the two classes of subsets coincide; with claims 1, 2 and 3 settled at steps 5.1, 9.1 and 6.1 the theorem is proved.

L4step 6.1step 9.1∎

Remarks

Where each hypothesis is spent. The Hausdorff condition is used exactly once, at step 2.1, to know that the family V covers K; compactness of K is used exactly once, at step 3.1, to cut that cover down to finitely many members. Claim 2 then reuses claim 1 in the same shape, with the roles of point and compact set played by a point of L and the compact set K.

Why the family is defined and not chosen. For each y∈K the Hausdorff condition asserts that some pair (U,V) exists; it provides no rule for naming one. A proof that writes Uy and Vy has selected a pair for every y∈K at once, and for an arbitrary compact K that is the Axiom of Choice. Collecting instead every V that works for some U replaces the selection by a formula, and the only selection left is over the finite index set σ(n), where Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values applies.

Claim 3 fails without the Hausdorff hypothesis, and FALSE: a compact subset of a topological space is closed records the failure with a witness. Claim 4 is the converse pairing: closedness is enough for compactness only when the ambient space is compact (A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a finite union of compact subspaces is compact), and compactness is enough for closedness only when it is Hausdorff.

Depends on

Used by

…and 34 more results.

Dependency tree · two levels

23 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources