Questions tagged [compactness]
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190 questions
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What is your favorite proof of Tychonoff's Theorem?
Here is mine. It's taken from page 11 of "An Introduction To Abstract Harmonic Analysis", 1953, by Loomis:
https://archive.org/details/introductiontoab031610mbp
https://ia800309.us.archive....
32
votes
3
answers
6k
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Is "compact implies sequentially compact" consistent with ZF?
Over at the nForum, we've been discussing sequential compactness. The discussion led me to realise that I naively assumed that nets were simply Big Sequences, and that I could make a reasonable guess ...
27
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1
answer
840
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Can closed compacts in a topological group behave "paradoxically" with respect to unions, intersections, and one-sided translations?
Consider two closed compacts $A$ and $B$ in a topological group $\Gamma$. Let $A'$ be a left translation of $A$ and $B'$ a left translation of $B$:
$A' = aA$,
$B' = bB$.
Suppose it is known that $A'\...
17
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5
answers
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How can one characterise compactness-by-experiment?
There are a myriad different variations on the theme of "compactness", and some of them have even made it on to Wikipedia. I'm interested in finding out more about types of compactness that ...
15
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2
answers
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Does there exist a supercompactness theorem?
Large cardinals such as weakly compact cardinals, measurable cardinals, strongly compact cardinals, and extendible cardinals all can be characterized in terms of a certain compactness theorem of ...
13
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1
answer
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A topology on $\Bbb R$ where the compact sets are precisely the countable sets
QUESTION.
In there a topology on $\Bbb R$ where the compact subsets are precisely the countable subsets?
I am trying to create a counterexample to a certain claim, and I found that what I need is a ...
13
votes
1
answer
602
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A generalization of the Arhangelskii Theorem
Arhangeleskii's Theorem states the following
For any Hausdorff topological space $X$,
$$
|X|\leq2^{\chi(X)L(X)}
$$
where $\chi(X)$ is the character of $X$ and $L(X)$ is the Lindelöf degree of $...
12
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1
answer
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What are compact objects in the category of topological spaces?
Let $\mathscr C$ be a locally small category that has filtered colimits. Then an object $X$ in $\mathscr C$ is compact if $\operatorname{Hom}(X,-)$ commutes with filtered colimits.
On the other hand, ...
11
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3
answers
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Structure theorems for compact sets of rationals
Everyone knows the Heine-Borel theorem characterizing compact subsets of Euclidean space. For any $n \in \mathbb N$ a set $A \subseteq \mathbb R^n$ is compact just in case it is closed and bounded (in ...
11
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2
answers
314
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Spaces with every compactification $0$-dimensional which aren't locally compact
Recently I've proven the following theorem
Theorem. Let $X$ be a zero-dimensional locally compact Hausdorff space. Then the following are equivalent:
Every compactification of $X$ is zero-dimensional....
11
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2
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When is a k-space locally compact?
We're looking at the possible cardinal sequences of LCS (locally compact, Hausdorff, scattered) spaces, which has led us to think about taking a quotient of a locally compact, scattered space.
A k-...
11
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1
answer
309
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Which closed subsets $Y$ of a compact space $X$ admit a linear extensor $C(Y)\to C(X)$?
In the following $X$ is a Hausdorff compact topological space. Let $Y$ be a closed subset of $X$.
The restriction operator $R_Y:C(X)\to C(Y)$ is surjective (Tietze), so it admits a continuous right ...
11
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0
answers
273
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A ZFC-example of a countably compact paratopological group which is not a topological group
Problem. Does there exist a ZFC-example of a countably compact Hausdorff paratopological group which is not a topological group?
(The problem posed 27 May 2015 by Alexander Ravsky on page 9 of Volume ...
10
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2
answers
797
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On the definition of locally compact for non-Hausdorff spaces
It seems that there are different conventions in the literature as to what is a locally compact space (when the space is not supposed Hausdorff).
The two main non equivalent definitions I've seen ...
10
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1
answer
448
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Do compactly generated spaces have a more direct definition?
Is there an elementary way to define Haussdorf-compactly generated weakly Hausdorff topological spaces in a way that does not need defining topological space first?
Weakly Hausdorff sequential spaces ...
10
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0
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Masas in SAW*-algebras
I asked this question three years ago at MSe but it has no response; let me try here.
Pedersen distilled the following class of C*-algebras which he termed SAW*-algebras (Journal of Operator Theory, ...
9
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1
answer
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Noncompactness of the Sobolev embedding in the critical exponent case
Let $\Omega \subset \mathbb R^n$ be a bounded domain with a Lipschitz boundary and $n > p \ge 1$.
It is well known that up to the critical exponent $p^* = pn/(n − p)$, i.e. $q < p^*$, the ...
8
votes
3
answers
612
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Is there a non-metrizable topological space for which any countably compact subset is compact?
The title is the question : Is there a non-metrizable topological space for which any countably compact subset is compact ?
EDIT : non-metrizable and Hausdorff
8
votes
1
answer
272
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Characterization of pretty compact spaces
This is a cross post from MSE.
I believe that the following problem have already been considered by some sophisticated topologist.
Definition 1. A non-compact Hausdorff topological space $X$ is called ...
8
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2
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579
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Totally disconnected subspaces
This question is motivated by this one, where no simple solution within ZFC seems to exist. Let me ask a weaker question then.
Suppose that $K$ is a compact, Hausdorff, non-metrizable space. Does it ...
8
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1
answer
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Subspaces of $L_p([0,1])$ whose unit ball is compact for the topology of convergence in measure
Any information about the following questions would be welcome.
I wonder whether there are (well-known or easy) closed and infinite dimensional subspaces of $L_p([0,1])$ ($1<p<\infty$) whose ...
7
votes
1
answer
856
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Compactness of set of indicator functions
Let $\chi_A(x)$ denote an indicator function on $A\subset [0,1]$. Consider the set
$$K=\{\chi_A(x): \text{ A is Lebesgue measurable in }[0,1]\}.$$
Is this set compact in $L^\infty(0,1)$ with respect ...
7
votes
1
answer
899
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Is a closed subset of an extremally disconnected set again extremally disconnected?
Let $T$ be a compact Hausdorff extremally disconnected set (so $T$ is a compact Hausdorff space, such that the closure of each open subset is again open). Let $S \subseteq T$ be a closed subset.
...
7
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2
answers
459
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Compact operators on Lebesgue spaces
Let $K:{\rm L}^p({\bf R}^d)\to {\rm L}^p({\bf R}^d)$ be a bounded linear operator for every $p\in(1,\infty)$.
Assume that for some $r\in(2, \infty)$ it holds that $K$ is compact on ${\rm L}^q({\bf R}^...
7
votes
1
answer
342
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Does a compact Lie group have finitely many conjugacy classes of maximal Abelian Lie subgroups?
Let $G$ be a compact Lie group. An Abelian Lie subgroup $A \leq G$ is a maximal Abelian Lie subgroup if, for any Abelian Lie subgroup $A'$ such that $A \leq A' \leq G$, then $A' = A$.
Of course any ...
7
votes
2
answers
562
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Is the union of a compact and the relatively compact components of its complementary in a manifold compact?
I was thinking of a way to prove this and I realised that for my approach the lemma from the title would be useful, and it´s an interesting question on its own. Obviously it is true if the manifold is ...
7
votes
2
answers
1k
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CG spaces from the perspective of sheaves over compact Hausdorff spaces
A compactly generated space is a space $X$ such that $f : X \rightarrow Y$ is continuous if and only if $K \rightarrow X \stackrel{f}{\rightarrow} Y$ is continuous for each compact hausdorff space $K$....
7
votes
1
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775
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Fréchet-Kolmogorov compactness Theorem for Lp spaces on manifolds
Suppose I have a family of functions $\mathcal{F} \subseteq L^2(\mathcal{M}, P)$ where $\mathcal{M}$ is a compact manifold, and $P$ is a probability distribution on $\mathcal{M}$. Is there an ...
7
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1
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Universally closed implies proper for locales
It is well known that:
Theorem.
For a locale (resp. topological space) $X$, the following are equivalent:
$X$ is compact, i.e. every open cover of $X$ has a finite subcover.
For every locale (resp. ...
7
votes
1
answer
850
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Weak*-convergence of signed measures
Let $X$ be a compact Hausdorff space and let $M(X)$ denote the space of signed measures that is naturally dual to $C(X)$, the space of continuous functions on $X$. I am interested whether the ...
6
votes
14
answers
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Applications of compactness [closed]
Similar to this question: Applications of connectedness I want to collect applications of compactness.
E.g.: compact + discrete => finite, which can be used to prove the finiteness of the ...
6
votes
2
answers
832
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Is every continuous action of a compact topological group closed?
I am reading Bredon's Introduction to compact transformation groups, and came across the following result and proof on page 34:
Even though he writes "Recall our standing assumption that $X$ is ...
6
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3
answers
963
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Convolution of $L^2$ functions
Let $u\in L^2(\mathbb R^n)$: then $u\ast u$ is a bounded continuous function. Let me assume now that $u\ast u$ is compactly supported. Is there anything relevant that could be said on the support of $...
6
votes
2
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Is there an easier proof to show that the closed convex hull of a normalized weakly null sequence is weakly compact?
In a paper that I am reading there is a following step:
Let $X$ be a Banach space and let $(x_k) \subset X$ be a normalized sequence that converges weakly to $0$.
Then $\overline{co}(x_k)$ is a ...
6
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2
answers
298
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Is every compact simply-connected reductive p-adic group perfect?
Let $k$ be a nonarchimedean local field and $G$ a reductive $k$-group,
which we assume to be semisimple and simply-connected. Recall that an abstract group $H$ is perfect if it is generated by ...
6
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2
answers
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How do I prove that compact-open topology is metrizable?
Let $X$ be a $\sigma$-compact topological space and $(Y,d)$ be a metric space.
Let $\{K_n\}$ be a sequence of compact subsets of $X$ whose union is $X$.
Define $\rho_n(f,g):=\sup \{d(f(z),g(z)): z\...
6
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2
answers
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Is the separability of the space needed in the proof of the Prohorov's theorem?
The Section 5 of the book:
Billingsley, P., Convergence of Probability Measures, 1999,
studies Prohorov's theorem. A short reminder is given below.
Let $\Pi$ be a family of probability measures on ...
6
votes
1
answer
321
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Topologies that turn the real numbers into a compact Hausdorff topological group
If I'm not mistaken, the question I put on the title used to be on this site, but I'm not being able to find it at all. I'm therefore reposting it so that someone can either give me the old link or ...
6
votes
1
answer
916
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Rellich-Kondrachov compacteness Theorem for the Euclidean space with Gaussian measure
Let $\gamma_n: \mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}$ be the Gaussian distribution function defined by
$$
\gamma_n(x):=(2 \pi)^{-\frac{n}{2}} e^{-\frac{|x|^2}{2}}.
$$
Let $d\gamma_n$ denote the following measure ...
6
votes
1
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261
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When does base-change in topological spaces preserve quotient maps?
The question when $(-) \times X$ preserves colimits in topological spaces is well-studied. Since it always preserves arbitrary coproducts (disjoint unions), one only has to show when it preserves ...
6
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1
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When Stone–Čech compactification is totally disconnected
A topological space $X$ is totally disconnected if the connected components in $X$ are the one-point sets, and a topological space, $X$ is called completely regular exactly in case points can be ...
6
votes
1
answer
641
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Uniqueness of limits and compactness implies closure
It is not difficult to prove that in a Hausdorff topological space every compact set is closed, and almost trivial that if in a topological space X every compact set is closed then X is T1. As ...
6
votes
1
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Is there a compactification with nontrivial connected remainder?
Question: Let $X$ be a continuum and $p \in X$. Under what conditions does there exist a compactification $\gamma (X-p)$ with $\gamma (X-p) - (X-p)$ connected and nondegenerate?
Throughout, $X$ is a ...
6
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0
answers
246
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Making the analogy of finiteness and compactness precise
If one asks about the intution behind compact topological spaces, most often one will hear the mantra
“Compactness of a topological space is a generalisation of the finiteness of a set.”
For example,...
5
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1
answer
518
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Who are the owners of the compactness theorem in $L^p(\Bbb R^d)$?
As the title says, I am interested to know Who are the owners of the compactness theorem in $L^p(\Bbb R^d)$. There is some confusion in the literature.
Let recall that the compactness theorem in $L^p(\...
5
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2
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638
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Beyond Cantor's Teepee
From Counterexamples in Topology by Steen and Seebach (2nd edition) example 129 page 145 we have an example of connected and totally path-disconnected space.
It is defined as follow:
Fix $p= (1/2,1/2)...
5
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1
answer
923
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Existence of injective compact operators
We know that if $X$ is a separable Banach space, then for every infinite dimensional Banach space $Y$, there exists an injective compact operator from $X$ to $Y$.
My query is for every Banach ...
5
votes
2
answers
575
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Anti-compactness
Let $(X,\tau)$ be a topological space such that
$\tau\ne\{\emptyset\ X\}.\ $
We call an open cover $\mathcal{U}$ of $(X,\tau)$ proper if
$\ X\notin \mathcal{U}.\ $ Moreover we say that $(X,\...
5
votes
1
answer
298
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Can Tychonoffs theorem for a countable number of spaces be proven with ZF plus the axiom of (countable) dependent choice?
It can be proven without any form of infinite choice that the product of two compact spaces (and thus any finite product) is compact, while on the other hand, it is well known that the general form of ...
5
votes
1
answer
368
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Mapping scheme from a proper variety
Let $X$ be a proper scheme over a field $k$. Let $T$ be a scheme over $k$. Is it true that morphisms $T \times X \to \mathbb{A}^1$ are in bijection with morphisms $T \to \Gamma (X, \mathcal{O}_X)$ (...