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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
- 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 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
- The discrete, indiscrete, cofinite, cocountable, particular-point and Sierpinski topologies placed in the compactness hierarchy Example
- FALSE: a compact subset of a topological space is closed False statement
- 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
- Conventions on this page, and the one implication of the classical chain that is not available at this point in the reading order Remark
- Why the criterion is about the product topology, and the choice cost of the compact separation lemmas Remark
- A compact Hausdorff space is regular and normal, hence T₃ and T₄ Theorem
- A continuous image of a compact space is compact; a continuous real-valued map on a nonempty compact space attains a maximum and a minimum; and a continuous bijection from a compact space to a Hausdorff space is a homeomorphism Theorem
- Assuming dependent choice, every locally compact Hausdorff space is a Baire space Theorem
- In a compact Hausdorff space every quasicomponent is connected, so quasicomponents and components coincide Theorem
- 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 Theorem
- Under the ultrafilter lemma and dependent choice, the closure of the full evaluation image is the Stone–Čech compactification Theorem
- X^* is compact and contains X as an open subspace; X is dense in X^* exactly when X is not compact; and X^* is Hausdorff exactly when X is locally compact and Hausdorff Theorem
Dependency tree · next 3 levels
Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 68 results over 17 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click 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)