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The Tychonoff Embedding and the Stone–Čech Compactification
1 · Prerequisites
- Compactness
- Compactness in Metric Spaces
- Construction of the Natural Numbers
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Cauchy Sequences
- Construction of the Real Numbers via Dedekind Cuts
- Convergence: Nets and Filters
- Countability and Uncountability
- Filters and Ultrafilters
- Finite Counting, Factorials and Binomial Coefficients
- Foundations of the Real Numbers for Analysis
- Hausdorff via the Diagonal
- Hereditary and Productive Behaviour of the Separation Axioms
- Metric Spaces
- Monotone Sequences, Bolzano-Weierstrass, and Cauchy Completeness
- Order, Zorn's Lemma, and the Axiom of Choice
- Relations, Functions, and Quotients
- Roots, Rational Powers, and Classical Inequalities
- Separation Axioms: the Hierarchy
- Sequences and Limits
- Subspaces, Products, and Quotients
- Suprema and Infima
- The Cantor Set, Baire Category, and Measure Zero in ℝ
- The ZFC Axioms and the Basic Set Constructions
- Topological Spaces and Continuity
- Topology of ℝ
- Urysohn's Lemma and the Tietze Extension Theorem
2 · Summary
Complete regularity supplies continuous -valued functions that distinguish a point from a disjoint closed set. Together with the product topology, this gives the evaluation map and the cube-embedding characterization of Tychonoff spaces. The compactness route uses the ultrafilter lemma through the compact Hausdorff product theorem; density is then expressed by taking the closure of the evaluation image.
The page defines Hausdorff compactifications and the Stone–Čech extension property. It proves interval-valued extensions by coordinate projection, then uses dependent choice separately to embed an arbitrary compact Hausdorff target in a cube. Closedness of the embedded target ensures that the assembled coordinate map lands in that target, giving the universal property and its uniqueness consequences.
3 · Logical flowchart
4 · Definitions, theorems and proofs
A family of continuous unit-interval-valued functions that separates points from closed sets
Definition
Let be a topological space. A family of continuous maps (Continuity of a map of topological spaces at a point and globally, Intervals of : the nine order-convex forms, nondegeneracy, and length) separates points from closed sets when both conditions hold:
- for every distinct , some has ; and
- for every closed and every , some satisfies and .
The empty family has these properties precisely when . Indeed, if , the closed set makes clause 2 demand a member of the family. Thus a one-point space still needs a separating function for its point and the empty closed set; no coordinate is silently selected in either case.
The evaluation map from a space into the unit cube indexed by a family of continuous functions
Definition
For a family of maps , its evaluation map is The target has the product topology (The product set of functions choosing a point in each factor, the projections, the box topology, and the product topology as the initial topology of the projections; the empty product is a one-point space). The formula is a function because each value lies in ; if , its target is the one-element empty product and the formula still defines the unique map to it.
The evaluation map of a point–closed-set separating family is a topological embedding
Statement
If a family separates points from closed sets (A family of continuous unit-interval-valued functions that separates points from closed sets), then its evaluation map (The evaluation map from a space into the unit cube indexed by a family of continuous functions) is a homeomorphism of onto the subspace . In particular it is a topological embedding.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A space , a point–closed-set separating family , and its evaluation map .
A map into a product is continuous exactly when all of its coordinate maps are continuous (A map into a product is continuous iff each of its components is; the projections are continuous and open; and each projection is surjective when every factor is nonempty, which for an infinite index set uses the Axiom of Choice).
A homeomorphism is a bijection whose map and inverse are continuous (Homeomorphism, open map, closed map, embedding, and what it means for a property to be topological).
Proof
Each coordinate equals and is continuous, so is continuous by [L1].
If , point separation supplies with , and then . Thus is injective.
Let be open in and . The complement is closed, so choose with and . Then belongs to , and this subspace-open set is contained in .
Step 1.3 shows that is open in for every open , so is continuous. Together with step 1.1 and injectivity from step 1.2, [L2] proves the assertion.
A space is Tychonoff if and only if it embeds in a cube
Statement
A topological space is Tychonoff (Completely regular spaces and Tychonoff () spaces) if and only if there are a set and a topological embedding of into the cube . The assertion includes . More specifically, when is Tychonoff, its full evaluation map is such an embedding.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A topological space .
A completely regular space separates every point from every disjoint closed set by a continuous map to , and a Tychonoff space is completely regular and (Completely regular spaces and Tychonoff () spaces).
Products preserve complete regularity and , and subspaces inherit each property (Arbitrary products of completely regular spaces are completely regular, Arbitrary products preserve , , and Hausdorffness, Complete regularity is hereditary, without a hidden hypothesis, , , and Hausdorffness are hereditary).
A point–closed-set separating family has an evaluation map that is a topological embedding (The evaluation map of a point–closed-set separating family is a topological embedding).
Proof
If is Tychonoff, let . By [L1], complete regularity separates a point from a closed set and makes singletons closed, so this full family separates both points and points from closed sets. Hence [L4] embeds in .
Conversely, suppose embeds in . The interval is a metric space and hence Tychonoff by [L3], so [L2] makes the cube completely regular and , and then makes its subspace completely regular and .
The two implications are steps 1.1 and 1.2, so the equivalence holds.
A Hausdorff compactification as a dense embedding into a compact Hausdorff space
Definition
A Hausdorff compactification of a space is a pair in which is compact (Open cover, subcover, and compact topological space; a compact subset is a subspace that is compact in its own right) and Hausdorff (Hausdorff space: distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods; every metrizable space is Hausdorff and the indiscrete topology on two points is not), and is an embedding with dense image (Homeomorphism, open map, closed map, embedding, and what it means for a property to be topological, Dense, nowhere dense and codense subsets of a topological space, and the criterion by basic open sets). We identify with only after naming ; the density condition is a condition on that named image.
Assuming the ultrafilter lemma, every Tychonoff space has a Hausdorff compactification
Statement
Assume the ultrafilter lemma. If is Tychonoff, is its full evaluation map, and , then is a Hausdorff compactification of . In particular every Tychonoff space has one. This statement uses the ultrafilter lemma only for compactness of the cube; it makes no assertion about dependent choice.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A Tychonoff space and the ultrafilter lemma.
Assuming the ultrafilter lemma, every product of compact Hausdorff spaces is compact (Assuming the ultrafilter lemma, an arbitrary product of compact Hausdorff spaces is compact).
A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a point lies in the closure of exactly when every open neighbourhood of it meets (A closed subspace of a compact space is compact, and a finite union of compact subspaces is compact, A point lies in the closure of iff every basic neighbourhood of it meets ; the closure is the smallest closed superset and equals together with its derived set).
A Tychonoff space embeds in a unit cube (A space is Tychonoff if and only if it embeds in a cube ).
An arbitrary product of Hausdorff spaces is Hausdorff (Arbitrary products preserve , , and Hausdorffness).
The interval is compact, and its usual metric topology is Hausdorff (Heine-Borel by bisection: every closed bounded interval is compact, Distinct points of a metric space have disjoint balls around them).
Proof
By [L3], the full evaluation map embeds as in the cube . By [L5] the interval is compact Hausdorff, so [L1] makes compact and [L4] makes it Hausdorff.
Put . It is closed, hence compact by [L2], and it is Hausdorff as a subspace of the Hausdorff space .
The evaluation embedding has image , which is dense in by the definition of closure and [L2]. Thus is a Hausdorff compactification in the sense of A Hausdorff compactification as a dense embedding into a compact Hausdorff space.
The Stone–Čech compactification by its compact-Hausdorff extension property
Definition
A Stone–Čech compactification of is a Hausdorff compactification (A Hausdorff compactification as a dense embedding into a compact Hausdorff space) such that for every compact Hausdorff space and continuous map (Continuity of a map of topological spaces at a point and globally), there is a unique continuous with . The universal property, rather than a particular construction, is the definition.
Every continuous -valued function extends uniquely over the closure of the full evaluation image
Statement
Let be the full evaluation map and let . Every continuous has a unique continuous with .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The full evaluation map , its closure , and a continuous .
Two continuous maps to a Hausdorff target that agree on a dense subset agree everywhere (Two continuous maps into a Hausdorff space that agree on a dense subset are equal).
Proof
The coordinate projection is continuous by [L1]. Its restriction is continuous and satisfies .
If is another such extension, then and agree on , which is dense in . Since is Hausdorff, [L2] gives .
Under dependent choice, every compact Hausdorff space embeds in a unit cube
Statement
Assume dependent choice. Every compact Hausdorff space embeds in a cube for some set .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Dependent choice and a compact Hausdorff space .
Under dependent choice, a compact Hausdorff space is Tychonoff (Under dependent choice a compact Hausdorff space is Tychonoff, and its disjoint closed sets are separated by continuous functions).
Proof
By [L1], is Tychonoff. The forward implication of A space is Tychonoff if and only if it embeds in a cube then supplies an embedding of into a unit cube.
This is the asserted embedding.
Under the ultrafilter lemma and dependent choice, the closure of the full evaluation image is the Stone–Čech compactification
Statement
Assume the ultrafilter lemma and dependent choice. If is Tychonoff, is its full evaluation map, and , then is a Stone–Čech compactification of .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: The two stated choice principles, a Tychonoff space , its full evaluation closure , a compact Hausdorff space , and a continuous map .
Under the ultrafilter lemma, the evaluation closure gives a Hausdorff compactification (Assuming the ultrafilter lemma, every Tychonoff space has a Hausdorff compactification).
Under dependent choice, has an embedding (Under dependent choice, every compact Hausdorff space embeds in a unit cube).
A compact subset of a Hausdorff space is closed, and continuous maps agreeing on a dense subset with Hausdorff target agree everywhere (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, Two continuous maps into a Hausdorff space that agree on a dense subset are equal).
A family of continuous component maps assembles uniquely to a continuous map into the product (A map into a product is continuous iff each of its components is; the projections are continuous and open; and each projection is surjective when every factor is nonempty, which for an infinite index set uses the Axiom of Choice).
Every continuous unit-interval-valued map extends uniquely over the full evaluation closure (Every continuous -valued function extends uniquely over the closure of the full evaluation image).
A Stone–Čech compactification is a Hausdorff compactification with the stated unique compact-Hausdorff extension property (The Stone–Čech compactification by its compact-Hausdorff extension property).
Proof
By [L1], is compact Hausdorff and is dense in it.
Use [L2] to fix an embedding . For each , the map extends uniquely to a continuous by [L5].
The family assembles to a continuous map by [L4], and coordinatewise.
The subset is compact, hence closed in the Hausdorff cube by [L3]. It contains , so it contains : the inverse image is closed in and contains the dense subset .
Thus is continuous and satisfies . If is another extension, then and agree on dense , so [L3] gives equality and injectivity of gives .
Step 1.1 gives a Hausdorff compactification and step 4.1 gives the required unique extension for every compact Hausdorff target. This is exactly [L6].
Stone–Čech compactifications are uniquely homeomorphic over the original space
Statement
Under the hypotheses of Under the ultrafilter lemma and dependent choice, the closure of the full evaluation image is the Stone–Čech compactification, two Stone–Čech compactifications and of are uniquely homeomorphic by a map satisfying .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Stone–Čech compactifications and of under the stated choice hypotheses.
The Stone–Čech property gives a unique continuous extension into every compact Hausdorff target (The Stone–Čech compactification by its compact-Hausdorff extension property).
Continuous maps to a Hausdorff target agreeing on a dense subset are equal (Two continuous maps into a Hausdorff space that agree on a dense subset are equal).
Proof
Apply [L1] twice to obtain continuous and with and .
The maps and agree on , which is dense in , so [L2] gives . Similarly .
Hence is a homeomorphism over ; its uniqueness is the uniqueness clause in [L1].
The Stone–Čech compactification of a compact Hausdorff space adds no points
Statement
If is a Stone–Čech compactification of a compact Hausdorff space , then . Thus identifies homeomorphically with .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A compact Hausdorff space and a Stone–Čech compactification of .
The continuous image of a compact space is compact, and a compact subset of a Hausdorff space is closed (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, 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).
Proof
The image is compact by [L1], hence closed in the Hausdorff space by [L1].
By the compactification condition in The Stone–Čech compactification by its compact-Hausdorff extension property, is dense in . A closed dense subset equals , so .
5 · Examples, counterexamples and false statements
None yet.
Sources
Standard references
Recommended treatments; not extraction sources.