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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 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:
- A point and a disjoint compact set are separated. If is compact and , there are with
- Two disjoint compact sets are separated. If are compact and , there are with
- Compact implies closed. Every compact subset of is closed in .
- In a compact Hausdorff space the two classes coincide. If in addition is compact, then a subset of 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 choose disjoint open ", 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 that admit some open 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 .
and 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).
A subset is a compact subset of exactly when for every family of open subsets of with there are and with , or else (A subspace is compact exactly when every family of open subsets of the ambient space covering it, indexed or not, has finitely many members covering it, claim 1; Open cover, subcover, and compact topological space; a compact subset is a subspace that is compact in its own right, Subspace topology: the traces of the open sets, its closed sets and its bases, the continuity of the inclusion, and the characteristic property of a map into a subspace).
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).
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
For claim 1 fix a compact and a point , and put , a family cut out by a property of alone and not by any selection.
: given we have , since , so [A1] provides with , and ; that belongs to and contains .
If then and satisfy claim 1; otherwise [L2] applied to the family gives and with .
For each the set is nonempty, because ; and is a function with domain the natural number , so a choice function for its values supplies with and for every .
Put and ; both are open by [L1], because for every , by step 3.1, and because a point of would lie in some and in , contradicting . So claim 1 holds.
For claim 3 let be compact and put , which is open by [L1]. Every member of the union misses , so ; conversely for claim 1, proved at step 5.1, gives disjoint open and , whence and . So is open, is closed, and claim 3 holds.
For claim 2 let be compact with , and put , again cut out by a property. Then : for we have , so claim 1, proved at step 5.1, gives disjoint open and , and that lies in and contains .
If then and satisfy claim 2; otherwise [L2] applied to gives and with .
For each the set is nonempty, because ; and is a function with domain the natural number , so a choice function for its values supplies with and for every .
Put and ; both are open by [L1], by step 7.1, because for every , and because a point of would lie in some and in , contradicting . So claim 2 holds.
For claim 4 assume is also compact: a compact subset of is closed by step 6.1, and a closed subset of 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.
Remarks
Where each hypothesis is spent. The Hausdorff condition is used exactly once, at step 2.1, to know that the family covers ; compactness of 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 and the compact set .
Why the family is defined and not chosen. For each the Hausdorff condition asserts that some pair exists; it provides no rule for naming one. A proof that writes and has selected a pair for every at once, and for an arbitrary compact that is the Axiom of Choice. Collecting instead every that works for some replaces the selection by a formula, and the only selection left is over the finite index set , 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
- Open cover, subcover, and compact topological space; a compact subset is a subspace that is compact in its own right
- A subspace is compact exactly when every family of open subsets of the ambient space covering it, indexed or not, has finitely many members covering it
- 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
- Subspace topology: the traces of the open sets, its closed sets and its bases, the continuity of the inclusion, and the characteristic property of a map into a subspace
- A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a finite union of compact subspaces is compact
- Every natural-number-indexed list of nonempty sets has a choice function on its family of values
Used by
- A nonzero-degree map to a connected manifold is surjective Corollary
- An injective immersion from a compact manifold is an embedding Corollary
- Compact connected abelian subgroups lie in maximal tori Corollary
- Each homotopy representative is supported on a finite CW subcomplex Corollary
- Local formula for distance from the centre of a normal neighbourhood Corollary
- The Stone–Čech compactification of a compact Hausdorff space adds no points Corollary
- Under dependent choice and the ultrafilter lemma, the Stone-Cech compactification maps continuously onto the Samuel compactification Corollary
- A horned sphere has complementary components that need not be balls Counterexample
- A map with two preimages but degree zero Counterexample
- A surjective map need not be a fibration Counterexample
- A displayed two-sheeted orientation-preserving covering has degree two Example
- A finite subset of any space is compact, so the compact separation clauses specialise to separating a point from a finite set in a Hausdorff space Example
- Degree of z to the m on the circle from a regular value Example
- Extreme points of the probability measures are Dirac masses Example
- Freudenthal stable range for spheres Example
- The discrete, indiscrete, cofinite, cocountable, particular-point and Sierpinski topologies placed in the compactness hierarchy Example
- Degree is the unsigned number of points in a regular fibre False statement
- FALSE: a compact subset of a topological space is closed False statement
- A chart bump at a point with prescribed support Lemma
- A controlled nested horn construction embeds a closed three-ball Lemma
- A countable coordinate-ball cover has a countable locally finite shrinking Lemma
- A horn replacement block has an injective commutator meridian Lemma
- A local homeomorphism from a nonempty compact space to a connected Hausdorff space is surjective with finite fibres Lemma
- A low-dimensional disk can be pushed off a higher cell Lemma
- A map of Hausdorff compactifications carries the larger remainder onto the smaller remainder Lemma
- Canonical twisted fundamental classes over compact subsets Lemma
- Cellular attachments with finite boundary support form a CW complex Lemma
- Character space of generated normal algebra is operator spectrum Lemma
- Compact CW images have finite cell support without choice Lemma
- Compatible orientation classes over compact subsets Lemma
- Convex closures and hulls of finitely many compact convex sets Lemma
- Coordinate-ball classes identify local homology stalks Lemma
- Finite CW complexes are Euclidean neighborhood retracts Lemma
- Homotopy excision for a single relative cell layer Lemma
- In a locally compact Hausdorff space every open set containing a point contains an open set containing it whose closure is compact and still inside; such a space is regular Lemma
- Kification, compact tests, and finite constructions Lemma
- Riemann-integrable half-space extensions of chart coefficients Lemma
- The first potentially nonzero homotopy group of a wedge of higher spheres has its cell basis Lemma
- Weak Hausdorff diagonals and closed quotients Lemma
- A local homeomorphism from a nonempty compact Hausdorff space to a connected Hausdorff space is a finite-sheeted covering Proposition
…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
- Hausdorff space (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- Compact space (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- J. Munkres, Topology, 2nd ed., §26 (standard reference, not scraped)
- Stacks Project, Tag 0059 (standard reference, not scraped)