6
$\begingroup$

In the thesis "Topology of Function Spaces" by Andrew Marsh (Galway, 2000) it is claimed (page 23, before Definition 30) that the space $C(\omega_1)$ is Lindelöf with respect to the compact open topology. For a proof the reader is refered to

S.P. Gul'ko. On properties of $\sigma$-products. Soviet Math. Dokl. 18, 6 1977.

I searched a while on the net but I could not find another reference to this paper - it seems there is a paper by Gul'ko named "On properties of subsets of $\Sigma$-products" but I do not know wether that is the same paper or how to obtain access to the latter paper.

I wanted to ask Andrew Marsh but I could not find a way to address him (plus there seem to be more people of that name).

Furthermore, I could not find any other source for that claim.

So, my question is:

  • Can you give me a reference (or a proof if it fits on one page) for the fact that $C_k(\omega_1)$ is Lindelöf? It does not need to be the Gul'ko paper above but if you manage to find it and it really contains the proof, that is of course also very fine.
  • Bonus question (not really part of the question but it would be even nicer): Is it known if $C_k(\omega_1) $ is $k$-Lindelöf in the sense of my last question (see Lindelöf Property for Open Covers for Compact Sets), i.e. does every open $k$-cover admit a countable $k$-subcover? (a $k$-cover is a cover such that every compact subset is contained in one of the members of the cover).
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ The book [R.McCoy, I.Ntantu, Topological properties of spaces of continuous functions, Springer, 1988] on page 69 contains an exercise 4a) related to the Lindelof property of the function spaces $C_k(X,R)$ and refers to two papers of Gul'ko published in Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR in 1977,1978. As a rule, papers in Doklady only announced results without detail proofs. Unfortunately, Russian internet sources like math-ru do not show this journal. $\endgroup$ Dec 27, 2016 at 17:12
  • $\begingroup$ The proof of a more general fact can be found in Corollary 5.35 of the survey paper [S.P.Gulʹko, Semilattice of retractions and the properties of continuous function spaces of partial maps. Recent progress in function spaces, 93--155, Quad. Mat., 3, Dept. Math., Seconda Univ. Napoli, Caserta, 1998.] $\endgroup$ Dec 29, 2016 at 7:20

2 Answers 2

4
$\begingroup$

Here is (a bit lengthy and technical) proof of the Lindelof property of the function space $C_k(\omega_1)$. At first some notations.

For any function $f\in C_k(\omega_1)$ and a countable ordinal $\alpha$ let $\|f\|_\alpha=\sup_{x\in[0,\alpha]}|f(x)|$. Let also $\|f\|=\sup_{x\in\omega_1}|f(x)|$. For every $f\in C_k(\omega_1)$, $\alpha\in\omega_1$ and $\varepsilon>0$ consider the open neighborhood $$B_\alpha[f;\varepsilon):=\{g\in C_k(\omega_1):\|g-f\|_\alpha<\varepsilon\}$$ of $f$ in the function space $C_k(\omega_1)$.

Given an open cover ${\mathcal U}$ of $C_k(\omega_1)$, for every $f\in C_k(\omega_1)$ let $$ \begin{aligned} \varepsilon_f&:=\sup\{\varepsilon\in (0,1]:\exists \alpha\in\omega_1\;\exists U\in{\mathcal U}\;\;B_\alpha[f;4\varepsilon)\subset U\},\mbox{ and }\\ \alpha_f&:=\min\{\alpha\in\omega_1:\exists U\in{\mathcal U}\;\;B_\alpha[f,3\varepsilon_f)\subset U\}. \end{aligned} $$ Choose also a set $U_f\in{\mathcal U}$ such that $B_{\alpha_f}[f;3\varepsilon_f)\subset U_f$.

Claim. For any functions $f,g\in C_k(\omega_1)$ we get $4\varepsilon_f\ge 4\varepsilon_g-\|f-g\|$.

Proof. Assuming that $4\varepsilon_f<4\varepsilon_g-\|f-g\|$, we can choose $\delta>0$ such that $\|f-g\|+4\varepsilon_f+\delta\le 4\varepsilon_g-\delta$ and find an ordinal $\alpha\in\omega_1$ such that $B_\alpha[g;4\varepsilon_g-\delta)\subset U$ for some $U\in{\mathcal U}$. Then $$B_\alpha[f;4\varepsilon_f+\delta)\subset B_\alpha[g;\|f-g\|+4\varepsilon_f+\delta)\subset B_\alpha[g;4\varepsilon_g-\delta)\subset U\in{\mathcal U},$$ which contradicts the definition of the number $\varepsilon_f$. $\square$

For every ordinal $\alpha\in\omega_1$, identify the Banach space $C_k[0,\alpha]$ with the subspace $\{f\in C_k(\omega_1):f|[\alpha,\omega_1)\equiv const\}$ of $C_k(\omega_1)$, consisting of functions, which are constant on the interval $[\alpha,\omega_1)$. For two ordinals $\alpha,\beta$ by $\alpha{\vee}\beta$ we denote their maximum $\max\{\alpha,\beta\}$.

We shall construct inductively a non-decreasing sequence of countable ordinals $(\alpha_n)_{n\in\omega}$ and a sequence $(F_n)_{n\in\omega}$ of countable subsets $F_n\subset C_k[0,\alpha_n]$ such that for every $n\in\omega$ the following conditions are satisfied:

$(1_n)$ $C_k[0,\alpha_n]\subset \bigcup_{f\in F_n}B_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}[f;\varepsilon_f)$;

$(2_n)$ $\alpha_{n+1}=\sup\limits_{f\in F_n}(\alpha_n{\vee}\alpha_f)$.

We start the inductive construction letting $\alpha_0=0$. Assume that for some $n\in\omega$ an ordinal $\alpha_n$ has been constructed. For the open cover $\{B_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}[f;\varepsilon_f):f\in C_k[0,\alpha_n]\}$ of the separable Banach space $C_k[0,\alpha_n]$, there exists a countable subset $F_n\subset C_k[0,\alpha_n]$ such that $C_k[0,\alpha_n]\subset \bigcup_{f\in F_n}B_{\alpha_n{\vee}\alpha_f}[f;\varepsilon_f)$. Letting $\alpha_{n+1}:=\sup_{f\in F_n}(\alpha_n{\vee}\alpha_f)$ we complete the inductive step.

After completing the inductive construction, consider the countable ordinal $\alpha_\omega=\sup_{n\in\omega}\alpha_n$ and the countable set $F:=\bigcup_{n\in\omega}F_n\subset C_k[0,\alpha_\omega]\subset C_k(\omega_1)$. We claim that $\{U_f:f\in F\}\subset {\mathcal U}$ is a countable subcover of $C_k(\omega_1)$. Given any function $g\in C_k(\omega_1)$, for every ordinal $n\le\omega$ consider the (unique) function $g_n\in C_k[0,\alpha_n]$ such that $g_n|[0,\alpha_n]=g|[0,\alpha_n]$. By the continuity of the function $g$ at $\alpha_\omega$, there exists a number $n\in\omega$ such that $|g(x)-g(\alpha_\omega)|<\varepsilon_{g_\omega}$ for all $x\in[\alpha_n,\alpha_\omega]$. This implies that $\|g_n-g_\omega\|<\varepsilon_{g_\omega}$ and $4\varepsilon_{g_n}\ge 4\varepsilon_{g_\omega}-\|g_n-g_\omega\|>3\varepsilon_{g_\omega}$ according to the Claim.

By the inductive condition $(1_n)$, for the function $g_n\in C[0,\alpha_n]$ there exists $f\in F_n$ such that $g_n\in B_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}[f;\varepsilon_f)$ and hence $\|f-g_n\|_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}<\varepsilon_f$. By the inductive condition $(2_n)$, $\alpha_f\le\alpha_{n+1}\le\alpha_\omega$. Since the functions $f$ and $g_n$ are constant on the interval $[\alpha_n,\omega_1)$, the inequality $\|f-g_n\|_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}<\varepsilon_f$ implies $\|f-g_n\|=\|f-g_n\|_{\alpha_n\!{\vee}\alpha_f}$. Then Claim yields that $4\varepsilon_{f}>4\varepsilon_{g_n}-\|f-g_n\|>3\varepsilon_{g_n}$ and hence $\varepsilon_{g_\omega}<\frac43\varepsilon_{g_n}<\frac43\frac43\varepsilon_{f}$.

We claim that $g\in B_{\alpha_f}[f;3\varepsilon_f)\subset U_f$. Indeed, for every $x\in [0,\alpha_f]$ we get $$|g(x)-f(x)|\le |g(x)-g_n(x)|+|g_n(x)-f(x)|<\varepsilon_{g_\omega}+\varepsilon_f<\tfrac{16}9\varepsilon_{f}+\varepsilon_f<3\varepsilon_f,$$ and hence $g\in B_{\alpha_f}[f;3\varepsilon_f)\subset U_f$.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Happy New Year! Thank you very much for this detailed proof! $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Jan 2, 2017 at 8:08
5
$\begingroup$

For the subspace $C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$ of $C_k(\omega_1)$ consisting of integer-valued functions, the proof of the Lindelöf property is relatively simple.

Given any open cover ${\mathcal U}$ of $C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$, for every $f\in C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$ find a countable ordinal $\alpha_f$ such that $f|[\alpha_f,\omega_1)$ is constant and the set $B[f;\alpha_f]=\{g\in C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z}):g|[0,\alpha_f]=f|[0,\alpha_f]\}$ is contained in some neighborhood $U_f\in{\mathcal U}$ of $f$. For every ordinal $\alpha\in\omega_1$ consider the subspace $C_k(\alpha;{\mathbb Z})$ of $C_\omega(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$ consisting of functions that are constant on the interval $[\alpha,\omega_1)$. It is easy to see that the subspace $C_k(\alpha;{\mathbb Z})$ is Lindelöf (moreover, countable). Put $\alpha_0=0$ and construct an increasing sequence $(\alpha_n)_{n\in\omega}$ of countable ordinals as follows. Assume that a countable ordinal $\alpha_n$ has been constructed. Consider the open cover $\{B[f;\alpha_f]:f\in C_k(\alpha_n;{\mathbb Z})\}$ of the Lindelöf subspace $C_k(\alpha_n;{\mathbb Z})$ and find a countable subset $F_n\subset C_k(\alpha_n;{\mathbb Z})$ such that $C_k(\alpha_n,{\mathbb Z})\subset\bigcup_{f\in F_n}B[f_n;\alpha_{f_n}]$. Let $\alpha_{n+1}=\sup\{\alpha_f+1:f\in F_n\}$.

We claim that for the countable set $F=\bigcup_{n\in\omega}F_n$ the family ${\mathcal U}_F:=\{U_f:f\in F\}\subset {\mathcal U}$ is a required countable subcover of $C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$. Given any function $f\in C_k(\omega_1;{\mathbb Z})$, use the continuity of $f$ at the ordinal $\alpha_\omega=\sup_{n\in\omega}\alpha_n$ and find $n\in\omega$ such that $f([\alpha_n,\alpha_\omega])=\{f(\alpha_\omega)\}$. Find a unique function $g\in C(\alpha_n;{\mathbb Z})$ such that $g|[0,\alpha_n]=f|[0,\alpha_n]$ and observe that $g|[0,\alpha_\omega]=f|[0,\alpha_\omega]$. Since $\alpha_g<\alpha_{n+1}$, we get $f\in B[g;\alpha_g]\subset U_g\in{\mathcal U}_F$.

Now it is necessary to adapt this proof to the general case of the space $C_k(\omega_1)$ of all (not necessarily integer-valued) functions on $\omega_1$.

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.