Notes on Topology

Alex Nelson May 31, 2009

Contents
1 Introduction 2

Act I: Topological Spaces

2
2 3 5 7 8 8 8 10

2 Properties of Sets 3 Topological Spaces 4 Basis For Topological Spaces 4.1 Given a Topological Space, Finding a Basis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Example of Usefulness of Bases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 A Sub-Basis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Continuous Functions 6 Closed Sets

II

Act II: Construction of Topological Spaces

11
11 12

7 The Order Topology 8 The Product Topology

III

Act III: Properties of Topological Spaces

14
14

9 Connectedness
Abstract Topology is the study of boundaries. We usually think of an open set as not containing its boundary, and a closed set as one that contains its boundary. We generalize these notions in topology suitably.
Email:

[email protected]

Properties of Sets

Introduction

Loosely speaking, basic topology is concerned with boundaries. What is an open set? When is a set in one piece? When can we put a set inside a box? What is a boundary? What is a neighborhood? And so on. The basic approach to introducing topology will be done in three acts. The rst act will introduce what is a topology, basic denitions, various operations on sets, neighborhoods, and bases for topologies. The second act will deal with the construction of topological spaces, specically subspaces and product spaces. The third will deal with a variety of properties a topological space can have (e.g. compactness, connectedness, countability and seperation axioms, etc.).

Part I

Act I: Topological Spaces

2 Properties of Sets
Just a review of a few properties of sets, and some basic approaches to proofs. Proposition 1. For any set A 1. The empty set is a subset of A: A, 2. The union of A with the empty set is A A = A, A. A.

3. The intersection of A with the empty set is the empty et A = , A.

4. The Cartesian product of A and the empty set is empty A = , 5. The only subset of the empty set is itself A A = , A A.

6. The power set of the empty set is a set containing only the empty set 2 = {} 7. The empty set has cardinality zero (it has zero elements). Moreover, the empty set is nite || = 0.

Topological Spaces

Given some statement If P, then Q. its contrapositive is If Q is not true, then P is not true. Its converse is If P , then Q. (2.3) Sometimes its easier to prove the converse than to prove a given proposition. To show that two sets A, B are equal, we need to show A B and B A. (2.2) (2.1)

Topological Spaces

Problem 2. The fundamental aim of topology, for all practical purposes, is to generalize real analysis to sets other than R. We begin by generalising the notion of what an open set is. That is, previously we thought of an open set as a set that doesnt include its boundary, for example S = {x R : 1 < x < 1} (3.1)

is an open interval since it doesnt include -1 or 1. We wish to generalize this notion, so lets begin by introducing a collection of open subsets of a given set X called a topology on X. Denition 3. A Topology on a set X is a collection T of subsets of X having the following properties: 1. and X are in T 2. The union of the elements of any subcollection of T is in T 3. The intersection of the elements of any nite subcollection of T is in T . A set X for white a topology has T been specied is called a topological space. We generalize the notion of an open set to be any subset U X such that U T . This weakens our previous notion of an open set, i.e. this topological denition includes our previous intuition about open sets and extends beyond it. We call elements of X points of the space. In fact, we will dene open sets as elements of T : Denition 4. Let (X, T ) be a topological space. Then the members of T are dened as open sets. Now this denition of a topological space is rather abstract. Lets consider a few examples using nite sets. Example 5. Consider the set X = {a, b} where a, b are arbitrary objects. The possible topologies on this are 1. {, {a, b}} This is trivially a topology, since it includes X, . Their union X = X, their intersection X = are both in the topology. This is dubbed the trivial topology. The only open sets are empty and X.

Topological Spaces

Figure 1: An example of all the possible topologies on the set X = {a, b} corresponding to (from top to bottom, left to right) the discrete topology, {, {b}, X}, {, {a}, X}, and the trivial topology. 2. {, {a}, {a, b}} This is also a topology, since {a} {a, b} = {a}, {a} X = X, {a} = {a}, {a} = . All of these are in the topology. 3. {, {b}, {a, b}} This is just switching a with b, which is also a topology. 4. {, {a}, {b}, {a, b}} This is also a topology, its all possible subsets of X. This is given a special name known as the power set or discrete topology. Here, every subset is open. We can see a diagrammatic scheme of these topologies in g (1). Example 6. This is a nonexample. Consider the set X = {a, b, c}. The collection T = {, {a, b}, {b, c}, X} . Observe that {a, b} {b, c} = {b} T / So its not closed under nite intersections, so T isnt a topology. Proposition 7. If we have some topological space (X, T ), and for each x X we have {x} T , then T is the discrete topology. Proof. We want to show that T is the power set of X. We know that arbitrary unions of subsets of X in T is also in T , and by hypothesis all singletons are elements of T . It follows that any arbitrary subset of U X can be written as an arbitrary union of singletons U= {x}. (3.4)
xU

(3.2) (3.3)

Since this is any arbitrary subset of X, it follows that every subset of X is in T . Thus T is the discrete topology. Denition 8. Let T , T be two topologies on the same set X. We say that T T T is ner than T T is coarser than T . (3.5)

Remark 9. This notion of ner and coarser topologies are worthy of explanation. The typical explanation is to think of sand paper, or gravel. Munkres [3] gives the example of having a topology be visualized by a collection of large rocks. If we break it up into ner gravel, we can union them together to get back the coarser topology and it takes up less volume. Intuitively, this is a ner conguration of pebbles.

Basis For Topological Spaces

Basis For Topological Spaces

Problem 10. Oftentimes, a topology is cumbersome to work with, so we want to make life easier. In linear algebra, we dont work with vectors aribtrarily, we work with linear combinations of basis vectors. We use an analogous concept for topological spaces. We work with basis elements when discussing topological properties, it simplies life a bit. For us, however, our basis elements are not vectors! Instead, they are a selected collection of open subsets of a given topological space X with some extra properties. They are the basic building blocks for a topology, so intuitively if all the building blocks share a property, the topology should have it too. Denition 11. If X is a set, a basis for a topology on X is a collection B of subsets of X (or basis elements) such that 1. For each x X, there is at least one basis element B containing x. 2. If x belongs to the intersection of two basis elements B1 , B2 , then there is a basis element B3 such that x B3 B1 B2 . (4.1)

If B satises these two conditions, then we dene the topology generated by the basis B by rst saying an open set U X is in the topology generated by B i x U , there is a B B such that x B U . Remark 12. We can alternatively say that if an open set U in the topology generated by B, then U= B (4.2)
J

where J is some indexing set, B B are basis elements. Remark 13. A few notes on the properties of the basis for a topology. 1. The rst property is basically saying the union of all our basis elements covers X. There are no holes in our topology. 2. The second property is a bit more abstract. We want intersections to be covered by some number of basis elements. If we didnt have this property, the intersection of two basis elements wouldnt be an open set, which implies that basis elements are not open sets. This is bad, it would imply that the topology generated by a basis isnt really a topology! Problem 14. Note that the denition of the topology generated is not yet shown to be a topology, we need to prove that it is a topology. Theorem 15. Let B be a basis for a topology on X. Then T , the topology generated by B, is a topology. Proof. We need to prove that the topology generated by a given basis satises the properties of a topology. We will do this property by property. Let B be the basis for a topology on X, T by the topology generated by B. 1. (Contains , X) (a) We see that T is vacuously true.

Basis For Topological Spaces

(b) We see that for each x X there is a Bx B such that x Bx . It follows that X= {x} Bx (4.3)
xX xX

Since each Bx X, it follows that Bx X

xX

(4.4)

Thus the union of all basis elements is X. So both T and X T . 2. (Closure under arbitrary unions) We see that if {U }J is a collection of open sets in T and J is some index set, then we can write B = U
I

(4.5)

by virtue of the denition of an open set in the topology generated by B. If I= I (4.6)

J

then B =
I J

B =
J

(4.7)

is also, by denition, a set in T . 3. (Closure under nite intersections) Let {U }n be some nite collection of =1 open sets in T . We see that by denition of an open set in the topology generated by B U = B (4.8)
I

for some index set I , and basis elements B B. We see then that the nite intersection is then
n n

U =
=1 =1

B .

(4.9)

Let I=

I
=1

(4.10)

then

U =
=1 I

B .

(4.11)

But this is by denition an open set in the topology generated by B. Thus the topology generated T by B satises all the properties of a topology.

Basis For Topological Spaces

Lemma 16. Let X be a set, let B be a basis for a topology T on X. Then T equals the collection of all unions of elements of B. Proof. Given any arbitrary U T , we can write it as U=
xU

Bx

(4.12)

where x Bx U is a basis element. We know such an element exists by property 1 of a basis element, and we know it is contained in U by property 2 of a basis element. We have that any element of T can be written as an arbitrary union of basis elements, we need to show that it contains every union of basis elements. We know by denition, every basis element is open. We also know that arbitrary union of open sets is open. By denition, open sets are elements of a specied topology. Bases are dened for a given topology, which implies the arbitrary union of basis elements is in the given topology. So every union of basis elements is in the topology T. Remark 17. This lemma basically says that any open set U can be written as a union of basis elements. Note that it does not specify this union is necessarily unique. This stands in stark contrast to linear algebra, where a vector is a unique linear combination of basis elements. It is an unfortunate fact of life that topologists choose poor denitions. Remark 18. So, just to review, if we have a basis B for the topological space (X, T ), if U X, and if for each x U there is a Bx B such that x Bx U , then U is a union of basis elements.

4.1

Given a Topological Space, Finding a Basis.

Problem 19. But now that we have some notion of a basis for a topology, the question is How can we nd a basis for a given topology? Lemma 20. Let (X, T ) be a topological space. Suppose that C is a collection of open sets of X such that for each open set U of X and each x U , there is an element C C such that x C U . Then C is a basis of X. Proof. We need to do two things. First we need to show that C is a basis. Second, we need to show that the topology generated by C , call it T , is really just T . 1. We see that given each x X, there is at least one C C containing it. This is, by hypothesis, true. We need to show that if x C1 C2 , then there is a C3 C such that x C3 C1 C2 . We see that C1 C2 is open, so by hypothesis there is a C3 C1 C2 such that x C3 . This means that C is a basis. 2. We need to show that T = T . (a) We see that any element U T is such that for some x U , there is a C C such that x C U so U T by denition. (b) We also see that any element V T is such that it is the union of basis elements in C , by lemma (16). But each C C is such that C T . This means that V (as a union of elements of T ) is also in T . This implies that T = T , as desired. Thus C is a basis for the topology T on X.

Continuous Functions

4.2

Example of Usefulness of Bases.

Problem 21. In the beginning of this section, we mentioned that it is useful to use bases instead of topologies since they allow us to prove properties faster. That is, if we can prove some topological property holds on each basis element (or equivalently, an arbitrary basis element), then it holds for the topology. We will illustrate the use of bases in making such a claim. Lemma 22. Let B, B be bases for the topologies T , T (respectively) on X. Then the following are equivalent: 1. T is ner than T . 2. For each x X and each basis element B B containing x, there is a basis element B B such that x B B. Proof. (2) (1). We see that an element U T can be written as the union of basis elements {B }J . But since, for each x U , there is a B B such that x B B . Then B U , which implies U T . (1) (2). Given x X, and a B B that contains x. We see that B T . But by (1), T T so B T . So consider B as an open set that coincidentally contains a point x. Then by denition of B as a basis, there is a basis element B B such that x B B. Remark 23. The gist of this lemma boils down to this: given two bases on a given set, and one is ner than the other, the topology generated by the ner basis is ner than the topology generated by the coarser basis.

4.3

A Sub-Basis.

Denition 24. Let (X, T ) be a topological space. A Subbasis for the topology on X is the collection of subsets of X whose union equals X. The Topology Generated by a Subbasis is dened as the collection T of all unions of nite intersections of subbasis elements. Remark 25. In the authors opinion, the previous denition is a bad one. It appeals too much to linear algebraic intuition of a subbasis as a basis of a subspace, and that is not the case here. Instead, it should really have the intuition of a prebasis. That is, after a bit of manipulation we can get a basis. But it is not as though anyone can change this denition now!

Continuous Functions

Problem 26. One of the interesting properties we had with functions in real analysis was the notion of continuity. Is there a way to generalize this notion to a topological setting? Denition 27. (Real Analysis Denition of Continuous) Let f : X Y be a function, X and Y be sets. We say that f is Continuous if for each > 0 there is a corresponding > 0 such that |x x0 | < |f (x) f (x0 )| < (5.1)

Or in other words, for each neighborhood of f (x0 ), there is a neighborhood of x0 .

Continuous Functions

Remark 28. Observe that what we are doing is specifying a neighborhood in the range of a certain size, then demanding there is a corresponding neighborhood in the domain of a certain size. We can do this in real analysis since the reals are suciently nice (they are a metric space which is a really really strong condition for a topological space). We want to generalize this for topological spaces so when we work with metric spaces we recover our previous notion of continuity. Denition 29. Let X, Y be topological spaces, f : X Y be a function. We say that f is continuous at x0 if for every neighborhood V of f (x), there is a neighborhood U of x such that f (U ) V . Remark 30. This notion of continuity is nearly identical to the notion we previously introduced from real analysis. The dierence is that we are not using a metric to keep track of every open neighborhood in the domain and the range. But observe we demand each open neighborhood V of f (x) has a corresponding neighborhood U in the domain such that the image of U is contained in V . This is precisely what we did in the real analysis case, we specied an neighborhood, and demanded that for each neighborhood there is a corrsponding neighborhood in the domain such that the image of the neighborhood is contained in the neighborhood. Theorem 31. Let X and Y be topological spaces, if f : X Y is such that for each open set V Y its preimage f 1 (V ) X is open, then f is continuous. Proof. Trivial. Remark 32. (Inverse Functions) Note that contrary to appearances continuity does not demand the function be invertible! The preimage of a set is not the same as the functions inverse. Consider f : X Y , and Z Y is some open set. Then f 1 (Z) = {x X : f (x) Z} which does not say anything about the existence of an inverse for f . Denition 33. Let X, Z be topological spaces, and Y X be a subspace. A map i: Y x X i(x) = x (5.3) (5.2)

is dened as the Inclusion Map. Similarly, a continuous map r: X x Y r(x) = x if x Y (5.4)

is dened as the Retraction if the retraction of i to Y is the identity on A. Remark 34. We use the inclusion map and the retraction to extend and restrict functions (respectively) by composing them with the functions of interest. Note that the restriction of a continuous function (i.e. composing it with a retraction) is the composition of two continuous functions and thus continuous. Denition 35. Let X, Z be topological spaces, Y X be a subspace. If f : X Z is a function, we can dene the Restriction of f to Y as f r :X Z the composition of the retraction map (which is just idY on Y ) with f . (5.5)

Closed Sets

10

Remark 36. Observe that the restriction of a function is just composition of functions. Lemma 37. (Pasting Lemma) Let X and Y be topological spaces, and U, V be open sets in X such that X = U V . Suppose f : U Y and g : V Y are continuous and f (x) = g(x) for all x U V (5.6) Then the function h : X Y dened by h(x) = is continuous. f (x), if x U g(x), if x V (5.7)

Closed Sets

Problem 38. We dened what it means for a set to be open by just demanding it be in a topology on a space. So how do we dene a set to be closed? Intuitively, its an open set that contains its boundary, but what is a boundary topologically? Denition 39. Let X be a topological space, A X be some subset. We say that A is Closed if X A is open. Remark 40. This is kind of weaseling out of the problem, just dene a set to be closed if its compliment is open. This doesnt seem intuitive or immediately clear why one would want to dene it this way, but we will see why later on. Denition 41. Let X be a topological space, Y X. 1. The Closure of Y (denoted Y or closure(Y )) is the intersection of all closed sets containing Y . 2. The Interior of Y (denoted Y 0 or int(Y )) is the union of all open sets contained in Y . Remark 42. Observe that the closure of a set is closed, the interior of a set is open. Remark 43. The closure of a set is the smallest closed set containing it, but we conveniently avoided the problem of What do we mean by smallest ? by using intersections of closed sets. Similarly, the interior of a set is the largest open set contained in it. Remark 44. A set Y is closed i Y = Y and it is open i Y = Y 0 . Denition 45. Let X be a topological space, A X be some subset. We dene the Boundary of A (denoted A) to be A (X A) the intersection of the closure of A with the closure of the compliment of A. (6.1)

The Order Topology

11

Example 46. Consider the set X = {a, b, c}. Consider the topology T = {, {a}, {b}, {a, b}, X} (6.2)

We see that {a, c} is closed since its compliment {b} is open, and we also see that {b, c} is closed since its compliment {a} is open. The intersection of these two closed sets {c} is closed, since its compliment is open and the intersection of closed sets is closed. Observe the closure of {a} is given by the intersection of all closed sets containing a: {a, c} {a, b, c} = {a, c} (6.3) and the closure of {b, c} (that is, the compliment of {a}) is itself, i.e. {b, c} is a closed set so its closure is itself. The boundary of {a} is then the intersection of these two sets {a} = {b, c} {a, c} = {c} (6.4) which we could not have found if we didnt dene the boundary in a topological way! Remark 47. Let X be a topological space, A X be a subset. The denition of the boundary of A is the same as the closure of A minus its interior A = A A0 . (6.5)

How can we see this? Well, the interior of A is the union of all open sets contained in A. Its compliment would be the closure of X A. We see that the intersection of (X A) with A is just the closure of A intersected with the compliment of its interior, i.e. C A (X A) = A A0 = A A0 . (6.6) This is by virtue of the property of compliments (A B)C = A B C where A and B are subsets of some set U . Denition 48. Let X be a topological space, Y X. A point x X is a Limit Point of Y if every neighborhood of x intersects Y {x}. Remark 49. This denition makes more sense given the notion of what a continuous function is, since we dened continuity in the real analysis situation as the limit as f (x) approaches f (x0 ). We take this notion, and use the topological notion of continuity to concoct a topological notion of a limit. (6.7)

Part II

Act II: Construction of Topological Spaces

7 The Order Topology
Problem 50. Topologies seem more or less abstract. Isnt there some way to simplify specifying open sets? We are going to introduce the notion of specifying

The Product Topology

12

open sets using open intervals. How do we specify open intervals? By using an order relation a < b, we can specify open intervals. If X is a simply ordered set, there is a standard topology for it dened using the order relation. Its called the order topology. We should probably rst generalize the notion of intervals familiar from real analysis. Since X is a simply ordered set, there is a (simple) order relation <. So suppose we have a, b X such that a < b, then we have 4 possible subsets of X: (a, b) = {x|a < x < b} (a, b] = {x|a < x b} [a, b) = {x|a x < b} [a, b] = {x|a x b}. (7.1a) (7.1b) (7.1c) (7.1d)

We call the eq (7.1a) an open interval, eqs (7.1b) (7.1c) clopen intervals, and lastly eq (7.1d) a closed interval. Denition 51. Let X be a set with a simple order relation. Suppose X has more than one element. Let B be the collection of all sets of the following types: 1. All open intervals (a, b) in X. 2. All intervals of the form [a0 , b), where a0 is the smallest element (if any) of X. 3. All intervals of the form (a, b0 ], where b0 is the largest element (if any) of X. The collection B is a basis for a topology on X, which is called the order topology. Remark 52. If X has no smallest element, there are no sets of type (2), and if X has no largest element there are no sets of type (3). Denition 53. If X is an ordered set, and a is an element of X, there are four subsets of X that are called the rays determined by a. They are the following (a, +) = {x|x > a} (, a) = {x|x < a} [a, +) = {x|x a} (, a] = {x|x a} The rst two are open rays, the last two are closed rays. (7.2a) (7.2b) (7.2c) (7.2d)

The Product Topology

Problem 54. If we have two topological spaces X and Y , can we glue them together? That is, given two topological spaces, we wish to construct a new one using only what we know of X and Y . Denition 55. Let X, Y be topological spaces. The Product Topology on X Y is the topology having as basis the collection B of all sets of the form U V , where U is an open subset of X and V is an open subset of Y .

The Product Topology

13

Remark 56. Being rigorous, we should probably verify that this B beast really is a basis. For any x y X Y , we see that X Y B so the rst condition is trivially satised. The second condition, let (x y) U1 V1 and (x y) U2 V2 . We see that B is the collection of the product of all open subsets, which allows us to see that (U1 V1 ) (U2 V2 ) = (U1 U2 ) (V1 V2 ) (8.1) is also the product of open sets, so its a basis element. Thus the second property of a basis is satised. Theorem 57. If B is a basis for the topology of X and C is a basis for the topology of Y , then the collection D = {B C|B B, C C } is a basis for the topology of X Y . Proof. We will use lemma 20 to prove this. That is, for some open set W X Y and each x y W there is a basis element U B such that x U and a basis element V C such that y V , so x y U V W and U V D. Thus D is a basis. Denition 58. Let 1 : X Y X be dened by the equation 1 (x, y) = x; let 2 : X Y Y be dened by the equation 2 (x, y) = y. (8.4) (8.3) (8.2)

The maps 1 and 2 are called the projections of X Y onto its rst and second factors, respectively. Remark 59. Observe that projections are surjective provided that both X and Y are nonempty. If one is empty, X Y is empty too, and everything becomes trivial.
1 Remark 60. Note that if U X is open, 1 (U ) = U Y . Similarly, if V Y 1 is open, 2 (V ) = X V . Their intersection is U V .

Theorem 61. The collection

1 1 S = {1 (U )|U is open in X} {2 (V )|V is open in Y }

(8.5)

is a subbasis for the product topology on X Y . Proof. Let T be the topology on X Y , T be the topology generated by our subbasis. We see that each element W S is an open subset of the product topology, which means that the topology generated by S is contained in T , i.e. T T. (8.6)

We need to show that T T . We see given a basis element U V for T that

1 1 U V = 1 (U ) 2 (V )

(8.7)

which is nothing more than a nite intersection of subbasis elements. This implies that T T as desired.

Connectedness

14

Part III

Act III: Properties of Topological Spaces

9 Connectedness
Problem 62. How can we tell if a space is connected or not? That is, if its disconnected, then we should be able to break it up into independent pieces. How do we make this notion of disconnectedness rigorous? Denition 63. Let X be a topological space. A Seperation of X is a pair U, V of disjoint, nonempty, open sets whose union is X. The space X is said to be Connected if there is no seperation in it. Remark 64. Observe that we didnt really dene connectedness. Instead we dened what it means for it to have a seperation, and then proceeded to dene connected as not seperated. So, to prove a topological space is connected is equivalent to disproving the existence of a seperation. Consequently, we will use proof by contradiction a lot when dealing with connectedness. Remark 65. Observe that if X is connected and Y is homeomorphic to X, then Y is necessarily connected. Remark 66. A space X is connected if and only if the only closed subsets of X that are both open and closed are X and . Otherwise if we had some additional set U that is closed and open, then X U is also closed and open. But U and X U are disjoint, nonempty, open subsets of X whose union is X. This couldnt happen if X were connected, so U needs to be empty or equal to all of X. Lemma 67. If Y is a subspace of X, a seperation of Y is a pair of disjoint nonempty sets A and B whose union is Y , neither of which contains a limit point of the other. The space Y is connected if there exists no seperation of Y . Proof. Let A, B form a seperation of Y . We see that A=AY Y and AC = (A Y )C = B, which implies (A Y ) B = . We can argue similarly for (B Y ) A = . Proposition 68. Let T , T be two topologies on X. If T T , then 1. the existence of a seperation in T implies existence of a seperation in T ; 2. connectedness in T implies connectedness in T . Proof. 1. Observe that if A, B forms a seperation in the T topology, then A, B T T . So the seperation is in the T topology too. (9.3) (9.2) (9.1)

Connectedness

15

2. Observe that if X is connected in the T topology, then there is no seperation (no pair A, B that form a seperation of X that live in T ). This means that no such A, B exist in T , which implies there is no seperation of X in the T topology. So X is connected in the T topology.

Problem 69. How can we construct connected topological spaces? This seems especially daunting since we only can really know if a topological space is disconnected. Theorem 70. If the sets C and D form a seperation of X, and if Y is a connected subspace of X, then Y lies entirely in C or entirely in D. Proof. Assume for contradiction that Y can lie in both C and D. Then we can observe that C Y and D Y are subsets of Y that are both open and closed, as well as disjoint and their union would be Y . How can we see this last point? Well, we know since C and D form a seperation of X that C D =X so it follows that (C Y ) (D Y ) = (C D) Y = X Y = Y. (9.5) (9.4)

We have our contradiction, it implies Y has a seperation. We reject our assumption and say that Y has to lie entirely in C or entirely in D. Theorem 71. The union of connected subspaces of X with a common shared point is connected. Proof. Let {A } be our collection of connected subspaces, Y =

(9.6)

be the subspace we are trying to show is connected, {y0 } =

(9.7)

be the point common to all connected subspaces. Assume for contradiction Y is disconnected. Then there exists a pair C, D of disjoint, nonempty, open subsets of Y whose union is Y . Since A is connected, by our previous theorem, it must lie entirely in C or D. Since all A share a common point, it implies that all A lie entirely in C or they all lie entirely in D. If some lived entirely in C while the rest entirely in D, there would be no shared point y0 since C and D are disjoint. So it follows that their union lies entirely in one. But this means that either C = and D = Y , or C = Y and D = , which is a contradiction of our assumption that C = and D = . Theorem 72. Let A be a connected subspace of X. If A B A, then B is connected.

Connectedness

16

Proof. Assume for contradiction that B has a seperation. More precisely, there is a pair of nonempty disjoint open sets C, D whose union is B. Since A B, and A is connected, then A is contained entirely in C or it is contained entirely in D. Suppose it is contained entirely in C, then C D A D A where A is the set of limit points of A. Recall a limit point x is such that x A {x}. But observe that x A {x} C {x} C but this implies that A C BAC (9.11) or equivalently, D = since we previously proven D C = , which is a contradiction. Theorem 73. The image of a connected space under a continuous mapping is connected. Proof. Let f : X Y be continuous, X be connected. Assume for contradiction there is a seperation (i.e. a pair A, B of nonempty, open, disjoint subsets whose union is Y ) in Y . Their preimage would be a seperation in X, which contradicts our hypothesis that X is connected. We reject our assumption that Y has a seperation and conclude it is connected. Theorem 74. A nite Cartesian product of connected spaces is connected. Proof. We will do a sort of inductive proof by contradiction. Base Case (n = 2): Lets consider two connected spaces X1 and X2 . Let Y = X1 X2 . (9.12) (9.10) (9.9) (9.8)

For contradiction, assume Y is disconnected. Then there is a pair A, B of disjoint, nonempty subsets of Y whose union is Y . This means that either 1 (A), 1 (B) forms a seperation of X1 or 2 (A), 2 (B) forms a seperation of X2 . But we assumed that Xi (i = 1, 2) was connected. So we have a contradiction, reject our assumption that Y is disconnected, and conclude Y is connected. Inductive Hypothesis (arbitrary n): Suppose this works for Y = X1 Xn . Inductive Cast (n + 1): Lets consider X1 , . . ., Xn+1 connected spaces, let X = X1 Xn and Y = X Xn+1 . Then this is just the base case, and Y was shown to be connected. Denition 75. A space is Totally Disconnected if its only connected subspaces are one-point sets. (9.15) (9.14) (9.13)

References

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Theorem 76. If X is a topological space equipped with the discrete topology, then it is totally disconnected. Proof. Since X has the discrete topology, we see that every subset of X is open and consequently its compliment (being a subset of X) is open, so every subset is also closed. The only subspaces of X which has the only subsets be both open and closed would necessarily be the one-point sets. (Observe that an arbitrary set Y X with more than one element could be partitioned into two subsets, which are both open and closed. This implies that Y is not connected.) It then follows by denition that X is totally disconnected. Proposition 77. Let Y X, let X and Y be connected. If A and B form a seperation of X Y , then A Y and B Y are connected. Proof. We will prove that if AY has a seperation, it means that X has a seperation in the sense of a seperation in a subspace (it is more general this way if X isnt a subspace, its still a kosher seperation). 1. Let AB = X Y , assume for contradiction that Z := AY has a seperation C D = Z. 2. We will show that B, C D form a seperation of X. Observe rst that C D =AY. 3. We see that B A = B A = since A, B form a seperation of X Y . 4. We see that Y is closed since X Y = A B is the union of open sets (thus open). 5. We see that Y B = Y B = . 6. We see that B X Y so B Y = . 7. Observe that Z B = (A Y ) B = (A Y ) B = and similarly Z B = (A Y ) B = . (9.17) 8. We see that B and Z = A Y form a seperation of X, implying X is disconnected. This is a contradiction. We have to reject the assumption that Z has a seperation. A similar argument holds for B Y being connected. (9.16)

References
[1] Aisling McCluskey and Brian McMaster. Topology course lecture notes. http: //at.yorku.ca/i/a/a/b/23.htm, 1997. Lecture Notes. [2] Sidney A. Morris. Topology without tears. http://uob-community.ballarat. edu.au/~smorris/topology.htm, 2001. E-Book. [3] James R. Munkres. Topology. Prentice Hall, second edition, 2000.