A NON-CLP-COMPACT PRODUCT SPACE WHOSE

FINITE SUBPRODUCTS ARE CLP-COMPACT

arXiv:1005.1974v1 [math.GN] 11 May 2010

ANDREA MEDINI

Abstract. We construct a product P of 2c spaces such that every

finite subproduct of P is CLP-compact but no infinite subproduct
of P is CLP-compact. This answers a question of Steprāns and
Šostak.

For all undefined topological notions, see [3]. Recall that a subset of
a topological space is clopen if it is closed and open.
Definition 1. A space X is CLP-compact if every cover of X consisting
of clopen sets has a finite subcover.
Using methods of Steprāns and Šostak (see Section 4 in [4]), we will
construct a non-CLP-compact product P of 2c Hausdorff spaces such
that every finite subproduct of P is CLP-compact. More precisely,
using an idea from [1], we will make sure that no infinite subproduct of
P is CLP-compact; see also Example 8.28 in [6]. Our example answers
the first half of Question 6.3 in [4]; see also Question 7.1 in [2].
Given a family F of non-empty closed subsets of N∗ , define the topo-
logical space X(F ) = N ∪ F as follows.
• The singleton {n} is open for every n ∈ N.
• The open neighborhoods of K ∈ F are those in the form {K} ∪
A, where A ⊆ N is such that K ⊆ A∗ .
Q
Our example will be in the Q form P = α∈2c X(Fα ). Given S ⊆ 2c , we
will use the notation PS = α∈S X(Fα ) for the subproduct.
Proposition 2 (Steprāns and Šostak). Assume that F consists of pair-
wise disjoint sets. Then X(F ) is a Hausdorff space.
Proof. Use the fact that disjoint closed sets in N∗ can be separated by
a clopen set. 
The following condition will guarantee the CLP-compactness of each
X(Fα). For the proof of Proposition 3, see Lemma 4.1 in [4].
o(F ) For every infinite and coinfinite A ⊆ N there exists K ∈ F such
that K ∩ A∗ 6= ∅ and K ∩ (N \ A)∗ 6= ∅.
Date: May 13, 2010.
1
2 ANDREA MEDINI

Proposition 3 (Steprāns and Šostak). Assume that o(F ) holds. If

U ⊆ X(F ) is a clopen set then either U is a finite subset of N or
U is the complement in X(F ) of such a set. In particular X(F ) is
CLP-compact.
1. Finite subproducts
We will use the following notion to ensure the CLP-compactness of
finite subproducts of P .
Definition 4. A product X = X1 × · · · × Xn is CLP-rectangular if
for every clopen set U ⊆ X and every x ∈ U there exists a clopen
rectangle R such that x ∈ R ⊆ U.
For the proof of the following proposition, see Proposition 2.4 and
Proposition 2.5 in [4]; see also Theorem 3.4 in [2].
Proposition 5 (Steprāns and Šostak). Assume that each Xi is CLP-
compact. Then X1 × · · · × Xn is CLP-compact if and only if it is
CLP-rectangular.
The following definitions isolate the multidimensional versions of
‘finiteness’ and ‘cofiniteness’ that we need. For every F ∈ [2c ]<ω and
N ∈ ω, we will denote the union of the ‘initial stripes of height N’ as
[
SNF
= (PF \{α} × N {α} ).
α∈F
Also define Y
F
TNF = PF \ SN = (X(Fα ) \ N).
α∈F

Proposition 6. Assume that for every F ∈ [2c ]<ω and every clopen
F
set U ⊆ PF , either U ⊆ SN or TNF ⊆ U for some N ∈ ω. Then PF is
CLP-compact for every F ∈ [2c ]<ω .
Proof. We wil use induction on n = |F |. The case n = 1 is obvi-
ous. So assume that PF is CLP-compact for every F ∈ [2c ]≤n and
let F ∈ [2c ]n+1 . By Proposition 5, it is enough to prove that PF is
CLP-rectangular.
First we will show that if U ⊆ PF is a clopen set and x ∈ U has
at least one coordinate in N, say coordinate α, then there exists a
clopen rectangle R ⊆ U such that x ∈ R. It is easy to check that the
cross-section
V = {y ∈ PF \{α} : y ∪ {(α, xα )} ∈ U}
is clopen in PF \{α} . Therefore, by the inductive hypothesis and Propo-
sition 5, there exists a clopen rectangle Q ⊆ V such that x\{(α, xα )} ∈
 A NON-CLP-COMPACT PRODUCT SPACE 3

Q. Now just let R = Q × {xα }{α} . This observation takes care of the
F
case U ⊆ SN .
On the other hand, if U ⊆ PF is a clopen set such that TNF ⊆ U, then
for every x ∈ U with no coordinate in N the desired clopen rectangle
is R = TNF itself. 
We will also need the following definitions.
[
SFN = SN
F
∩ (NF ) = (NF \{α} × N {α} ).
α∈F

TFN = TNF ∩ (NF ) = NF \ SFN = (N \ N)F .

The next two lemmas show that, in order to achieve what is required
by Proposition 6, we can just look at the trace of clopen sets on NF .
Lemma 7. Fix F ∈ [2c ]<ω . Assume that U ⊆ PF is a clopen set such
that U ∩ (NF ) ⊆ SFN . Then U ⊆ SN
F
.
F
Proof. Assume, in order to get a contradiction, that x ∈ U \ SN . For
all α ∈ F such that xα ∈ N, let Nα = {xα } and notice that Nα ⊆
N \ N. For all α ∈ F such that xα ∈ Fα , let Nα = {xα } ∪ Aα be a
Q α ) such that Aα ⊆ N \ N. Since U is open,
neighborhood of xα in X(F
we canQmake sure that α∈F Nα ⊆ U. This is a contradiction, because
∅ 6= ( α∈F Nα ) ∩ (NF ) ⊆ TFN . 
Lemma 8. Fix F ∈ [2c ]<ω . Assume that U ⊆ PF is a clopen set such
that TFN ⊆ U ∩ (NF ). Then TNF ⊆ U.
Proof. Assume, in order to get a contradiction, that x ∈ TNF \U. For all
α ∈ F such that xα ∈ N, let Nα = {xα } and notice that Nα ⊆ N \ N.
For all α ∈ F such that xα ∈ Fα , let Nα = {xα }∪Aα be a neighborhood
of xα in X(Fα) Q such that Aα ⊆ N \ N. Since PF \ U is open, we can
make Q sure that α∈F Nα ⊆ PF \ U. This is a contradiction, because
∅ 6= ( α∈F Nα ) ∩ (NF ) ⊆ TFN . 

Fix F ∈ [2c ]<ω . We will say that a subset A of NF is diagonal if

A * SFN and TFN * A for all N ∈ ω and the restriction πα ↾ A of the
natural projection πα : NF −→ N is injective for every α ∈ F .
Given F ∈ [2c ]n with n ≥ 2, say F = {α0 , . . . , αn−1 } with α0 < · · · <
αn−1 , we will say that a pair (f, g) of functions is F -diagonal if there
exist D and E diagonal subsets of NF \{αn−1 } such that f : D −→ N and
g : E −→ N. We will say that a pair (f, g) of functions is diagonal if it
is F -diagonal for some F as above. If (f, g) is such a pair of functions,
consider the following statement.
 4 ANDREA MEDINI

K(f, g) There exist Kα0 , . . . , Kαn−1 with Kαi ∈ Fαi for each i ∈ n such
that f ∩(Aα0 ×· · ·×Aαn−1 ) 6= ∅ and g ∩(Aα0 ×· · ·×Aαn−1 ) 6= ∅
whenever Aα0 , . . . , Aαn−1 ⊆ N are such that Kαi ⊆ A∗αi for every
i ∈ n.
Proposition 9. Fix F ∈ [2c ]n with n ≥ 2. Assume that K(f, g) holds
for every F -diagonal pair (f, g) of functions. If U ⊆ PF is a clopen
set, then either U ∩ (NF ) ⊆ SFN or TFN ⊆ U ∩ (NF ) for some N ∈ ω.
Proof. Assume, in order to get a contradiction, that U ∩(NF ) * SFN and
TFN * U ∩ (NF ) for every N ∈ ω. Then it is possible to construct (in ω
steps) diagonal subsets D and E of NF \{αn−1 } together with functions
f : D −→ N and g : E −→ N such that d ∪ {(αn−1, f (d))} ∈ U
whenever d ∈ D and e ∪ {(αn−1 , g(e))} ∈ / U whenever e ∈ E.
Now let Kα0 , . . . , Kαn−1 be as given by K(f, g). Define x ∈ PF by
setting xα = Kα for every α ∈ F . It is easy to see that x ∈ U ∩(PF \ U),
which contradicts the fact that U is clopen. 
Theorem 10. Assume that the family {Fα : α ∈ 2c } satisfies the
following conditions.
• For every F ∈ [2c ]n with n ≥ 2, the condition K(f, g) holds for
every F -diagonal pair (f, g) of functions.
• The condition o(Fα ) holds for every α ∈ 2c .
Then PF is CLP-compact for every F ∈ [2c ]<ω .
Proof. We will show that the hypothesis of Proposition 6 holds. If
|F | = 1, this follows from Proposition 3; if |F | ≥ 2, this follows from
Proposition 9, Lemma 7 and Lemma 8. 

2. Infinite subproducts
In this section we will show how to ensure that PC is non-CLP-
compact whenever C ∈ [2c ]ω . Consider the following condition. Recall
that a family L is linked if K ∩ L 6= ∅ whenever K, L ∈ L.
® For every DQ ∈ [2c ]ω , the family L = {xα : α ∈ D} is not linked
for any x ∈ α∈D Fα .
Theorem 11. Assume that condition ® holds. Fix C ∈ [2c ]ω . Then
PC can be written as the disjoint union of infinitely many of its non-
empty clopen subsets.
Proof. Let C = {αk : k ∈ ω} be an enumeration without repetitions.
For each n ∈ ω, define
Un = {x ∈ PC : xαk = n whenever 0 ≤ k ≤ n}.
 A NON-CLP-COMPACT PRODUCT SPACE 5

It is easy to check that each Un is open (actually, clopen) and that

Ui ∩ Uj =S∅ whenever i 6= j. Therefore we just need to show that
V = PC \ n∈ω Un is open.
So fix x ∈ V and consider I = {k ∈ ω : xαk ∈ / N}. First assume
that I is finite. If there exist i, j ∈/ I, say with i <Sj, such that
xαi 6= xαj then {y ∈ PC : yαi = xαi and yαj = xαj } \ n∈j Un is an
open neighborhood of x which is entirely contained in V . So assume
that xαi = xαj whenever i, j ∈ / I. Since x ∈ V , we must have I 6= ∅,
so fix i ∈ I and j ∈/ I, say with i < j (the other case is similar). Let
Nαi = {xαi } ∪ Aαi be a neighborhood S of xαi such that xαj ∈
/ Aαi . Then
{y ∈ PC : yαi ∈ Nαi and yαj = xαj } \ n∈j Un is an open neighborhood
of x which is entirely contained in V .
Finally, assume that I is infinite. An application of condition ®
with D = {αk : k ∈ I} and L = {xαk : k ∈ I} yields i, j ∈ I,
say with i < j, such that xαi ∩ xαj = ∅. Since disjoint closed sets
in N∗ can be separated by a clopen set, we can find disjoint clopen
neighborhoods Nαi and Nαj of x Sαi and xαj respectively. Then {y ∈
PC : yαi ∈ Nαi and yαj ∈ Nαj } \ n∈j Un is an open neighborhood of x
which is entirely contained in V . 

3. The construction
The next theorem guarantees the existence of our example: finite
subproducts will be CLP-compact by Theorem 10 and infinite sub-
products will be non-CLP-compact by Theorem 11.
Theorem 12. There exists a family {Fα : α ∈ 2c } satisfying the fol-
lowing conditions.
• Each Fα consists of pairwise disjoint subsets of N∗ of size 2.
• The condition o(Fα ) holds for every α ∈ 2c .
• For every F ∈ [2c ]n with n ≥ 2, the condition K(f, g) holds for
every F -diagonal pair (f, g) of functions.
• The condition ® holds.
Proof. Enumerate as {(fη , gη ) : η ∈ 2c } all pairs of diagonal functions,
say fη : Dη −→ N and gη : Eη −→ N, where Dη and Eη are diagonal
subsets of NF \{αn−1 } for some F = F (η) ∈ [2c ]n with n ≥ 2, say F =
{α0 , . . . , αn−1 } with α0 < · · · < αn−1 .
We will construct S Fα for α ∈ 2c by transfinite recursion: in the end
we will set Fα = ξ∈2c Fαξ for each α. Start with Fα0 = ∅ for each α.
By induction, we will make sure that the following requirements are
satisfied.
(1) Fαη ⊆ Fαµ whenever η ≤ µ ∈ 2c .
6 ANDREA MEDINI
S S
(2) | α∈2c Fαη | < 2c for every η ∈ 2c .
(3) We will take care of o(Fη ) at stage ξ = η + 1: that is, each
witness K is already in Fηη+1 .
(4) We will take care of K(fη , gη ) at stage ξ = η + 1: that is, the
witnesses Kαi are already in Fαη+1 .
S i

At a limit stage ξ, just let Fαξ = η∈ξ Fαη for every α.

η
At a successor
S stage
S ξ η= η + 1, assume that Fα isc given for every α.
First, let V = α∈2c Fα and observe that |V | < 2 by (2). It is easy
to construct a family Kη of size c consisting of pairwise disjoint subsets
of N∗ of size 2 such that for every infinite and coinfinite subset A of N
there exists K ∈ Kη such that K ∩ A∗ 6= ∗
S ∅ and K ∩ (N \ A) 6= ∅. By
(2), one can also make sure that V ∩ Kη = ∅. The family Kη will
ensure that (3) is satisfied.
S
Now let W = V ∪ Kη . Since fη is injective and πα ↾ Dη is injective
for every α ∈ F , the induced functions are injective too, hence it is
possible to choose
U η ∈ Dη∗ \ ((fη∗ )−1 [W ] ∪ (πα∗ 0 )−1 [W ] ∪ · · · ∪ (πα∗ n−2 )−1 [W ]).
Let Uαηi = (πα∗ i )(U η ) for i ∈ n − 1 and Uαηn−1 = (fη∗ )(U η ).
Now let Z = W ∪ {Uαη : α ∈ F } and choose
V η ∈ Eη∗ \ ((gη∗)−1 [Z] ∪ (πα∗ 0 )−1 [Z] ∪ · · · ∪ (πα∗ n−2 )−1 [Z]).
Let Vαηi = (πα∗ i )(V η ) for i ∈ n − 1 and Vαηn−1 = (gη∗)(V η ).
We conclude the successor stage by setting
• Fαη+1 = Fαη ∪ {{Uαη , Vαη }} for every α ∈ F \ {η},
• Fαη+1 = Fαη ∪ Kη for every α ∈ {η} \ F ,
• Fαη+1 = Fαη ∪ {{Uαη , Vαη }} ∪ Kη for every α ∈ F ∩ {η},
• Fαη+1 = Fαη for every α ∈ 2c \ (F ∪ {η}).
Next, we will verify that condition ® holds. Q Assume, in order to
get a contradiction, that D ∈ [2c ]ω and x ∈ α∈D Fα are such that
L = {xα : α ∈ D} is linked. Observe that the only possible equalities
among points of N∗ produced in our construction are those in the form
Uαη = Uβη or Vαη = Vβη for some α, β ∈ F (η). Therefore each element
of L must have been added to some Fα at the same stage ξ = η + 1.
Since D is infinite, we can pick α ∈ D such that α ∈ / F (η) ∪ {η}. It
is clear from the construction that xα ∈ L cannot have been added to
Fα at stage ξ = η + 1.
Finally, we will verify that (4) holds. Set Kαi = {Uαηi , Vαηi } ∈ Fαi for
every i ∈ n. Suppose Aα0 , . . . , Aαn−1 ⊆ N are such that Kαi ⊆ A∗αi for
every i ∈ n. In particular Uαηi ∈ Aαi for every i ∈ n. By the definition
of the induced function, we have πα−1i [Aαi ] ∈ U η for i ∈ n − 1 and
 A NON-CLP-COMPACT PRODUCT SPACE 7

fη−1 [Aαn−1 ] ∈ U η . Therefore we can pick

(nα0 , . . . , nαn−2 ) ∈ πα−10 [Aα0 ] ∩ · · · ∩ πα−1n−2 [Aαn−2 ] ∩ fη−1 [Aαn−1 ],
which will clearly witness f ∩ (Aα0 × · · · × Aαn−1 ) 6= ∅. To show that
g ∩ (Aα0 × · · · × Aαn−1 ) 6= ∅, use V η . 
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[3] R. Engelking. General topology. Revised and completed edition. Sigma Series
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[5] J. Steprāns. Products of sequential CLP-compact spaces are CLP-compact.
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1974.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Mathematics Dept.

E-mail address: medini@math.wisc.edu