# In a non-compact metric space, topological transitivity need not imply onto

I had asked this question on Mathematics Stack Exchange yesterday but it got no response so I'm asking here.

Let $X$ be a compact metric space and $f:X \to X$ be continuous. If $f$ is topologically transitive. Then $f$ is onto.

I'm trying to show that the compactness hypothesis cannot be removed.

I couldn't find any example of a non-compact metric space and a continuous function which is topologically transitive but not onto.

Any hints will be appreciated.

Note: If $(X,f)$ is a dynamical system. Then $f$ is said to be topologically transitive if for every pair of non-empty open sets $U$ and $V$ in $X$ there exists $n \geq 1$ such that $f^n(U) \cap V\neq \emptyset.$

• It's now answered on MathSE. – YCor Jan 12 '18 at 11:27

By Birkhoff's theorem, a bounded linear operator on a Banach space is topologically transitive if and only if it is hypercyclic. Charles Read has developed a whole machinery for constructing non-surjective, hypercyclic operators on spaces of the form $\ell_1(X)$: