5

Let $(X, \mathcal{T})$ be a topological space, $C_0, C_1 \subset X$ be closed totally disconnected subsets, and $C_0 \cup C_1 = X$. A space is totally disconnected if each of its connected components are singletons.

Is $\mathcal{T}$ totally disconnected?

kaba
  • 2,881

1 Answers1

5

No, not even, if X is a subset of the plane.

Recall that a topological space is widely connected, if $X$ is connected and each connected subset with more than one point is dense in the space.

According to a famous paper of P.N. Swingle from 1931 (!), there is a (non-trivial) $X \subset \mathbb{R}^2$, which is widely connected.

Since $X$ is Hausdorff, pick non-empty $U, V$ open in $X$ such that $U \cap V = \emptyset$. Then $X = A \cup B$ with $ A := X \setminus U$, $B := X \setminus V$. Of course, $A, B$ are closed in $X$.

Assume $A$ is not totally disconnected. Let $C \subset A$ be connected with more than one point. Then $C$ is dense in $X$, hence A is dense in $X$, hence $A \cap (X \setminus A) = A \cap U \neq \emptyset$. Contradiction! Hence, $A$ is totally disconnected. Analogously, $B$ is totally disconnected.

(There might be less difficult examples for spaces with low separation.)

Ulli
  • 6,241
  • Great. Never heard of the term widely connected. I guess in the paper "everywhere dense" means just dense, and "power of X" means the cardinality of X? – kaba Apr 11 '24 at 19:24
  • @kaba: yes, sure. "Widely connected" is sometimes considered in connection with "biconnected", for instance, the first example of a biconnected space in the plane without a dispersion point was widely connected (assuming CH). Both properties are quite bizarre connectivity conditions. – Ulli Apr 11 '24 at 19:50
  • Theorem 1 starts with "Any bounded indecomposable continuum M, lying in a euclidean space...". If a continuum is a compact connected metric space, then any continuum in a Euclidean space would be bounded by compactness. I wonder if it is just redundant language. – kaba Apr 11 '24 at 20:14