1. Introduction
In topology and its applications, the concept of an open set is fundamental. Many researchers have defined classes of open sets, (see [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5]); through them, new definitions of compactness and continuity have been found, see [
3,
6]. From this point of view, I have defined a new class of open set, namely a
-open set, for a topological space as follows: an open subset
of a topological space
is called a
-open set if
is a countable set, and, through it, created new concepts of the separation axioms, compactness, and continuity. Undoubtedly, many classic topological concepts, such as the different classes of open sets, have been used in soft topology, which has achieved many impressive and valuable results, for example, S. Al-Ghour [
7] used the notion of the
-open set [
8] on soft topology. In 2013, B. Chen [
9] provided the idea of soft semi-open sets inspired by the class of semi-open sets [
3]. In [
1,
2,
6,
9,
10], many researchers utilized the notions of open, pre-open [
4],
b-open [
11],
-open [
12],
-open [
13], somewhere dense sets [
14], and others to obtain new notions of soft topology.
The motivations for writing this paper are, firstly, to study a new class of open sets in topological spaces, which is an active path of research; secondly, to introduce a new framework to contribute in the near future to produce soft topological concepts, such as soft operators and soft continuity, which are inspired by classical topologies. Certainly, the researchers can explore other notions like covering properties and separation axioms of the proposed class of -open and -closed sets; and finally, it plays a crucial role in the development of modern concepts such as soft and fuzzy topology.
The arrangement of this article is as follows: In
Section 2, we define a class of
-open and
-closed sets and establish their master properties. In
Section 3, we study the concepts of
-regular,
-normal,
–
for
,
-compact, and
-compact spaces via
-open sets, and the theorems based on them are discussed with blue counterexamples. The concepts of
-continuous,
-continuous,
-homeomorphism, and
-homeomorphism functions via
-open sets are introduced and probed in
Section 4. In addition, we review some of their important properties with
-compact and
-compact space, and many examples are given to explain the concepts lucidly. Finally, some conclusions and the possible upcoming works are given in
Section 5.
Throughout this paper, let
be a topological space and let
be a subset of
. We denote the complement of
in
by
, the interior of
in
by
, and the closure of
in
by
. Also, we denote the set of positive integer numbers by
, the set of integer numbers by
, the set of rational numbers by
, the set of irrational numbers by
, the set of real numbers by
and the usual topology in
by
[
15]. Unless or otherwise mentioned,
stands for the topological space
. We do not assume
in the definition of compactness. A
space is regular and a
space, where a
space is also normal and a
space. A subset
of space
is said to be regularly-open and also called open domain if it is the interior of its own closure [
16]. A subset
is said to be regularly-closed and also called closed domain if it is the closure of its own interior or if its complement is an open domain.
2. Main Properties of -Openness and -Closedness
This part presents the definitions of -open and -closed sets, and the theorems and properties based on them are discussed with counterexamples.
Definition 1. An open subset of a topological space is called -open set if is a countable set. That is, is an open set and the frontier of is a countable set.
Definition 2. A closed subset of a topological space is called -closed set if is a countable set. That is, is a closed set and the frontier of is a countable set.
We denoted for the collection of all -open (resp., -closed) subsets of a topological space by (resp., ).
Theorem 1. The complement of any -open (resp., -closed) subset of a topological space is a -closed (resp., -open) set.
Proof. Let be any -open subset of a topological space . Then is closed and is countable, because is -open. Therefore, is a -closed set. On the other hand, suppose that be any -closed subset of a topological space . Then is open and is countable because is -closed. Therefore, is a -open set. □
Recall that an open (resp., closed) subset
of a topological space
is called an
-open (resp.,
-closed) set if
(resp.,
) is a finite set [
17].
Obviously, from the definitions, it is clear that any -open (resp., -closed) subset of a topological space is a -open (resp., -closed) set. However, the converse always is not true. For example, the subset is a -open subset of the usual topological space , which is not -open. Also, by Theorem 1, any complement of the -open set is -closed, then is a -closed subset of the usual topological space , which is not -closed because is not finite. It is clear by the definitions that, any clopen (closed-and-open) subset of a topological space is a -clopen set. Also, any countable closed set is -closed. However, any countable open set may not be -open. For example, with a particular point topology at . We have that is a countable open set, but is an uncountable set.
In , any open interval is a -open set. Also, any closed interval is a -closed set. It is clear by Definitions 1 and 2 that every -open and -closed sets are open and closed sets, respectively. However, the converse always is not true. Here is an example of an open (resp., closed) set which is not -open (resp., -closed).
Example 1. Let be the excluded set topological space on by . Then is open in . But is an uncountable set. Hence, is not a -open set. Also, is an example of a closed set which is not a -closed set.
There is an example of a -open (resp., -closed) set which is not an open (resp., closed) domain set.
Example 2. Let be a -open subset in . However, is not an open domain. Moreover, is a -closed set, but is not a closed domain.
In general, -open (resp., -closed) sets and open (resp., closed) domain sets are not comparable as shown by the following example.
Example 3. By Example 1, let , then is an open domain. However, is an uncountable set, where is no longer a -open set. Moreover, let , then is a closed domain. However, is an uncountable set, where is no longer a -closed set.
From the definitions of open, closed, -open, and -closed sets, the following diagram is obtained:
None of the above implications are reversible.
Theorem 2. Finite unions of -open sets is -open.
Proof. Suppose that
be a
-open set for all
. Then
is an open set and
is countable for all
i. Since
is open, then we need to show the other condition of the
-open set. Now, we have,
Since the finite union of countable sets is countable, then
is countable. Therefore,
is
-open. □
In the above Theorem, a countable union of -open sets is -open if a countable union of closure sets equals the closure of a countable union of sets. In general, this is not true for infinite cases as shown in the following example:
Example 4. Let be a family of non-empty pairwise disjoint spaces, where I is an uncountable index set. Let be a particular point topology on at . Let the set be a topology on the disjoint union . We call the topological sum of the . For all , pick , where for i and for all in I; hence, is open in X and is finite; thus, is -open in X for all . However, is uncountable. Therefore, is not -open in .
Corollary 1. Finite intersections of -closed sets is -closed.
Proof. Obvious by Theorems 1 and 2 and by Morgan’s Laws. □
Theorem 3. Finite union of -closed sets is -closed.
Proof. Suppose that be a -closed set for all , then is a closed set and is a countable set for all i. Since is closed, then we need to show the other condition of the -closed set.
Let be arbitrary. Since , then there exists such that and for all . Then , then . The claim is proven.
Since the finite union of countable sets is countable, then, is a countable set. Therefore, is -closed. □
By Theorems 1 and 3 and by Morgan’s Laws, we have the following Corollary:
Corollary 2. Finite intersections of -open sets is -open.
3. –-Spaces and -Compact Spaces
This part provides the definitions of -regular space, -normal space, –-space for , -compact space, and -compact space via -open sets and investigates their main properties.
Definition 3. Let be a topological space. Then
- (i)
is called a -regular space if and only if for each closed subset and each point , there exist disjoint -open sets and such that and .
- (i)
is called a -normal space if and only if for each pair of closed disjoint subsets and of , there exist disjoint -open sets and such that and .
Obviously, from the definitions, any -regular space is regular and any -normal space is normal. However, the converse may not be true as shown by the following two examples.
Example 5 (The Niemytzki Plane [
15])
. Let , the upper half plane with the -axis. Let , i.e., the -axis. Let . For every and , let be the set of all points of inside the circle of radius r tangent to at and let for . For every and , let be the set of all points of inside the circle of radius r and centered at and let for . The Niemytzki Plane is regular. Let be a closed set, as cannot be separated by two disjoint -open sets because the smallest -open set containing is . Hence, the Niemytzki Plane is not a -regular space. Example 6. Consider , where is the usual Topology on [15]. Hence, is a normal space. However, and are two disjoint closed sets which cannot be separated by two disjoint -open sets. Therefore, is a normal space, but is not a -normal space. Definition 4. Let be a topology space, where we say that is a –-space if and only if, given , , then there is either a -open set containing but not , or a -open set containing but not .
Definition 5. Let be a topology space, where we say that is a –-space if and only if, given , , then there is two -open subsets and of such that , and , .
Definition 6. Let be a topology space, where we say that is a –-space “-Hausdorff space” if and only if, given , , then there is two disjoint -open subsets and of , such that and .
Definition 7. The space is called a –-space if and only if it is a –-space and -regular. Moreover, the space is called a –-space if and only if it is a –-space and -normal.
It is clear from the definitions that any –-space is a -space, for . But, the converse may not be true as shown by the following examples.
Example 7. From Example 5, the Niemytzki Plane is a -space, but it is not a –-space.
Theorem 4. Every –-space is a –-space.
Proof. Let be a –-space. Then is -normal and a –-space. Suppose that F is any closed subset of X and x be any element of X with . Since any –-space is a -space, then is a -space; hence, is closed. Set F and are closed and disjoint, and by the -normality of there exists two disjoint C-open sets U and V containing F and respectively. Therefore, is a –-space. □
From the previous Theorems and Examples, the following diagram is obtained:
None of the above implications are reversible.
Definition 8. Let be a topological space, then is -compact (resp., -compact) if and only if any open (resp., -open) cover of has a finite subcover of -open (resp., open) sets.
Theorem 5. Any -compact space is compact.
Proof. Since any -open set is open, then from the definitions, any -compact space is compact. □
The converse is not always true. Here is an example of a compact space which is not -compact.
Example 8. Overlapping Interval Topology [15]. On the set , we generate a topology from sets of the form for and for . Then all sets of the form are also open. Hence, is a compact space, since in any open covering, the two sets which include 1 and will cover . The space is not a -compact space because there exists , which is an open cover for but has no finite subcover of -open sets because and are not -open sets, ( is not countable, and is not a countable set). Theorem 6. Any compact space is -compact.
Proof. Obviously, from the definitions, any compact space is -compact. □
In general, the converse is not true. Here is an example of a -compact space which is not compact.
Example 9. Consider , where is the right order topology on [15]. Hence, is not a compact space. However, the family of the -open set in is only. Therefore, is -compact. From Theorems 5 and 6 and Examples 8 and 9, the following diagram is obtained:
None of the above implications are reversible.
A subset of a space is -compact (resp., -compact) if and only if any open (resp., -open) cover of has a finite subcover of -open (resp., open) sets. The -compactness is not hereditary, for example:
Example 10. Let be the included point topological space on by 2 (see [15]). Then is a -compact space because is a -open finite subcover for any open cover of . However, is an infinite discrete subspace. Hence, with a discrete topology is not -compact. The -compactness is hereditary with respect to a -closed subspace as shown by the following theorem.
Theorem 7. If is -compact (resp., -compact) and is -closed, then is -compact (resp., -compact).
Proof. Let be any open (resp., -open) cover of , where is open (resp., -open) in for each . Since is -closed in , then is -open in . However, if any -open set is open, then is open in . Thus, is an open (resp., -open) cover for . Since is -compact (resp., -compact), then there exists such that . Thus, . Therefore, is -compact (resp., -compact). □
Since any -compact space is compact, then we have the following corollary:
Corollary 3. If is -compact and is closed, then is compact.
Theorem 8. A -compact (resp., -compact) subset of a -Hausdorff space is -closed.
Proof. Let be a -compact (resp., -compact) subset of -Hausdorff space . If , we are done because is closed and is a countable set. Hence, is -closed. Assume that . Pick an arbitrary and . Then there are two disjoint -open subsets and of such that , and . Let , then is an open (resp., -open) cover of . Since is a -compact (resp., -compact) subset of , then there exists such that . Let , then by Corollary 2, is a -open subset of containing , clearly showing does not intersect , so that ; hence, is a -interior point of , so is a -open subset in . Therefore, is a -closed subset in . □
Theorem 9. Let be a -compact -Hausdorff space. Then is -regular.
Proof. Let and let be a -closed set not containing . By -Hausdorffness, for each and , there are two disjoint -open sets and containing and , respectively. Then is a -open cover of . By Theorem 8, is -compact; therefore, there is a -open finite subcover . However, and are disjoint -open sets containing and , as required. □
Corollary 4. Let be a -compact -Hausdorff space. Then is a –-space.
Theorem 10. Let be a -compact -Hausdorff space. Then is regular.
Proof. The same as Theorem 9. □
Corollary 5. Let be a -compact -Hausdorff space. Then is a -space.
Theorem 11. Let be a -compact (resp., -compact) -Hausdorff space. Then is -normal (resp., normal).
Proof. The same as Theorem 9. □
Corollary 6. Let be a -compact -Hausdorff space. Then is a –-space.
Since every -compact space is compact, the proof of the following theorem is omitted.
Theorem 12. Suppose that is a topological space for each . The product space is -compact if and only if is -compact for each .
4. -Continuous and -Continuous Functions and Other Results
This section presents the definitions of the -continuous, -continuous, -homeomorphism, and -homeomorphism function via the concept of -open sets and reviews some of their important properties with -compact and -compact spaces.
Definition 9. A function is said to be -continuous (resp., -continuous) if is -open (resp., open) in for any open (resp., -open) subset in .
Obviously, from the definitions, every -continuous function is continuous and every continuous function is -continuous. However, the converse may not be true as shown by the following two examples.
Example 11. Let be the excluded set topological space on by . Then the identity function is a continuous function, which is not -continuous because is open, and is not -open because is an uncountable set.
Example 12. In Example 9, is the right order topology on the set of all real numbers . The family of all -open sets in is only. Consider , where is the finite complement topology on the set of all real numbers [15]. Then the identity function is a -continuous function, which is not continuous, From the definitions of continuous, -continuous, and -continuous functions, and from Examples 11 and 12, the following diagram is obtained:
None of the above implications is reversible.
Definition 10. Let and be two topological spaces and . Then is said to be a -open function if and only if for any -open subset , we have be a open subset in . Moreover, is said to be a -closed function if and only if for any -closed subset , we have be a closed subset in .
Theorem 13. Let be a -continuous (resp., -continuous) onto function and be -compact, then is -compact.
Proof. Let be any -open cover of . Since is -continuous (resp., -continuous) and any -open set is open, then is -open (resp., open) in for each . Since , then ; that is, is a -open cover of . Then, by the -compactness of , there exists such that , then , then , then . Hence, is a finite subcover of open sets for . Therefore, is a -compact space. □
Corollary 7. -compactness is a topological property.
From the previous theorem and the Diagram , we have the following corollary:
Corollary 8. - (i)
-continuous image of compact (resp., -compact, -compact) is compact (resp., -compact, -compact);
- (ii)
-continuous image of compact (resp., -compact, -compact) is compact (resp., -compact, -compact);
- (iii)
Continuous image of -compact is -compact.
Theorem 14. Let be an onto -continuous function and be -compact, then is compact.
Proof. Same proof as Theorem 13. □
Theorem 15. Let be -continuous, be -compact, and be a –-space, then is a -closed function.
Proof. Let be a -closed subset in . Since is -compact, then from Theorem 7, is -compact, since the image of a -compact space is -compact under a -continuous function (see Corollary 8). Hence, is -compact. Since every -compact subspace of a –-space is -closed (see Theorem 8), this implies that is -closed. But, any -closed set is closed. Therefore, is a -closed function. □
From Theorem 15 and Diagram (d), we have the following corollaries:
Corollary 9. Let be -continuous, be -compact (resp., compact), and be a –-space, then is a -closed function.
Corollary 10. Let be continuous, be -compact, and be a –-space, then is a -closed function.
Definition 11. A bijection function is said to be -homeomorphism (resp., -homeomorphism) if and only if and are -continuous (resp., -continuous).
From the definitions, every -homeomorphism function is homeomorphism and every homeomorphism function is -homeomorphism. However, the converse may not be true as shown by the following two examples.
Example 13. See Example 11.
Example 14. Consider is the right order topology on the set of all real numbers and , where is the indiscrete topology on the set of all real numbers [15]. Then the identity function is a -homeomorphism function, which is not continuous because the family of all -open sets in and are only. Theorem 16. Let be a -compact topological space and let be a -Hausdorff topological space. Then any -continuous bijection is a -homeomorphism.
Proof. Let be a -closed set. By Theorem 7, is -compact; therefore, is -compact by Corollary 8. By Theorem 8, we have that is -closed, as required. □