1. Introduction
Fuzzy topology plays an important role in quantum particle physics and the fuzzy topology induced by a fuzzy metric space was investigated by many authors in the literature; see for example [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6]. In particular, George and Veeramani [
7,
8] studied a new notion of a fuzzy metric space using the concept of a probabilistic metric space [
5]. In this paper, we generalize recent works of Gregori–Romaguera [
3,
9,
10,
11], Park [
12] and Saadati [
13,
14,
15,
16] using
-algebra-valued fuzzy sets and applying
t-norms on positive elements of order commutative
-algebras; see also [
17,
18]. In
Section 2, we define
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric spaces and study the topology induced by this generalized metric. In the following, we show that every
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric space is normal. In
Section 3, we study uniformly continuous functions in compact
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric spaces. Next, we show that compact
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric spaces are separable. After defining equicontinuous mappings we prove the Ascoli–Arzela theorem in these spaces. Finally, we study the metrizability of
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric spaces.
2. -Algebra-Valued Fuzzy Metric Spaces
In this section, we discuss
-algebra’s; for more details we refer the reader to [
19,
20,
21]. Let
be a unital algebra and
be its unit. A conjugate-linear function
on
such that
and
for all
is an involution on
. We call
a ∗-algebra. A ∗-algebra
together with a complete sub-multiplicative norm such that
for every
is a Banach ∗-algebra. A Banach ∗-algebra such that
for every
is a
-algebra. If
admits a unit
(
for every
) such that
, we call
a unital
-algebra. For an element
of a unital algebra
, we say that
is invertible if there is an element
such that
. We denote by
the set of all invertible elements of
. The set
is called the spectrum of
.
Let . A positive element, , denoted by , if and . Now, we define a partial ordering ⪯ on as follows: if and only if , where means the zero element in . Put and and is a positive element, and that positive elements have unique positive square roots.
Definition 1. Let be an order-commutative -algebra and be the positive section of . Let . A -algebra-valued fuzzy set on U is a function . For each u in U, represents the degree (in ) to which u satisfies .
We put and . Now, we define the triangular norm (t-norm) on .
Definition 2. A function which satisfies,
- (i)
; (boundary condition)
- (ii)
; (commutativity)
- (iii)
; (associativity)
- (iv)
and . (monotonicity)
is called a t-norm.
Now, we define continuous t-norm on
. We say that
on
is continuous (in short, a
-norm) if for every
and sequences
and
converging to
u and
v we have
Definition 3. Assume that satisfies and and is decreasing. Then, is called a negation on .
Example 1. We say if and only if for all , also, and . Now, we know that if then . Let , such that Then is a t-norm (product t-norm). Note that is continuous.
Example 2. Let and , such that Then is a t-norm (minimum t-norm). Note that is continuous.
Now, we extend the George-Veeramani definition of a fuzzy metric to a
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric by replacing fuzzy sets by
-algebra-valued fuzzy set and using the
–norm on positive elements of order commutative
-algebras (see also [
22,
23,
24,
25])and we define the new induced topology.
Definition 4. The triple is called a -algebra-valued fuzzy metric space (in short, AVFM-space) if , is a –norm on and is an -algebra-valued fuzzy set on such that for each and in we have,
- (a)
;
- (b)
for all if and only if ;
- (c)
;
- (d)
;
- (e)
is continuous.
We have that is a -algebra-valued fuzzy metric.
Let
be a
AVFM-space. For
, define the
open ball , as
in which,
is the center and
is the radius. We say
is open if for each
, there exist
and
such that
. We denote the family of all open subsets of
T by
, so
is the
-fuzzy topology induced by the
-algebra-valued fuzzy metric
.
Example 3. Consider the metric space . Let and let be fuzzy set on defined as follows:for all . Then is a AVFM-space. Note that, a
AVFM-space with
AVF metric
and product(min)
-norm, is said to be standard
AVFM-space.
In the next example, we present a
AVF metric which cannot be obtained from any classical metric and it is not a generalization of metric spaces, so then,
, the topology induced by a
AVF metric is different from the topology induced by previous metrics. Thus, for example, the convergence in a
AVFM-space is completely different to this concept in previous metric spaces and some theorems related to convergence of Cauchy sequences do not depend on the classical case (for example the Banach fixed point theorem [
26]).
Example 4. Let . Define for all and in and let be fuzzy set on defined as follows:for all and . Then is a AVFM-space. Lemma 1. ([
7])
Let be an AVFM-space. Then, is nondecreasing with respect to τ, for all in T. George-Veeramani in [
7] defined Cauchy sequence and completeness. Now we generalize the definition of a Cauchy sequence in
AVFM-spaces using the
AVF metric and the negation
.
Definition 5. Let be a sequence in a AVFM-space . Ifthen is said to be a Cauchy sequence. Sequence is said to be convergent to () if as for every . When every Cauchy sequence is convergent in a AVFM-space, then it is said to be complete.
From now on, let
be a
–norm on
such that for every
, there is a
such that
Theorem 1. AVFM-spaces are normal.
Proof. Consider the
AVFM-space
and disjoint closed subsets
. Let
, so
. Now
is open, so there is
and
such that
for every
. Similarly there exist
and
such that
for all
. Let
and
. Then, we choose a
such that
. Put
and
, so
U and
V are open sets such that
and
. We show that
. Let
, so there is a
and a
such that
and
. Now, we have
Hence
. However since
,
,
and thus
, a contradiction to (
2). Thus
T is normal. □
Remark 1. Consider AVFM-space presented in Example 3 and using Theorem 1 we can show that metrizable spaces are normal. In a AVFM space, Urysohn’s lemma and the Tietze extension theorem are true.
3. Some Topological Properties in a AVFM-Space
Definition 6. A function g from a AVFM-space T to a AVFM-space S is said to be uniformly continuous if for every and , there is and such that implies .
Theorem 2. Let g be continuous map from a compact AVFM-space T to a AVFM-space S. Then g is uniformly continuous.
Proof. Consider
and
, so, we can find
such that
. Since
is continuous, for each
, we can find
and
such that
implies
. However
and then we can find
such that
. Since
T is compact and the open family
is a cover of
T, there is
in
T such that
. Put
and
,
. For any
, if
, then
. Since
, there exists a
such that
. Hence we have
. Now
Therefore,
and
Then, g is uniformly continuous. □
Remark 2. Let be a Cauchy sequence in a AVFM-space T and g be a map from the AVFM-space T into the AVFM-space S. The uniform continuity of g implies that is Cauchy in S.
Theorem 3. Compact AVFM-spaces are separable.
Proof. Assume that is a compact AVFM-space. Let and . The compactness of T implies that, there are in T such that . Let , and choose a finite subset such that in which . Let . Then E is countable. We claim that . Let . Then for each , there exists such that . Thus converges to t. However since for all n, , then E is dense in T and so T is separable. □
Definition 7. A function sequence from AVFM-space to AVFM-space is said to be converges uniformly to if for every and , there exists such that for all and for each .
Definition 8. A family of functions from a AVFM-space T to a complete AVFM-space S is called equicontinuous if for every and , there exist and such that ⇒ for all .
Lemma 2. Consider the equicontinuous sequence of functions from a AVFM-space T to a complete AVFM-space S. Suppose that for every point of a dense subset D of T, converges, then for every point of T, converges and the limit function is continuous.
Proof. For every
and
, find
such that
. The equicontinuity of
implies that, there exist
and
such that for every
,
⇒
for all
. The denseness of
D in
T implies that there is a
and
converges for that
s. The sequence
is Cauchy, so for every
and
, there is a
such that
for all
. Now for any
, we have
so then the sequence
(in
S) is Cauchy and the completeness of
S guarantees
converges. Let
. Suppose that
and
, so there is
such that
. The equicontinuity of
implies that, for every
and
, there is
and
such that
⇒
for each
. Since
converges to
, for given
and
, there exists
such that
. Since
converges to
, for given
and
, there exists
such that
for each
. Now, for each
, we get
which shows the continuity of
g. □
Now, we prove the Ascoli–Arzela theorem in a AVFM-space.
Theorem 4. Let a compact AVFM-space, be a complete AVFM-space and be an equicontinuous family of maps from T to S. Consider the sequence in where is a compact subset of S for every . Then there is a continuous map g from T to S and a subsequence of such that converges uniformly to g on T.
Proof. Using Theorem 3, the compactness
T shows it is separable. Suppose that
is the countable set dense in
T. For every
i,
is compact. The first countability of
S shows it is sequentially compact. Consider the subsequence
of
such that
converges. Lemma 2, implies that, there is a continuous map
such that
converges to
for every
. Consider
and
, so there is
such that
. Since
is equicontinuous, there exist
and
such that
⇒
for all
n. The compactness of
T and Theorem 2 implies the uniformly continuity of
g, so for every
and
, there is
and
such that
for each
. Let
and
. The compactness of
T and the denseness of
D implies that,
for some
k, so for every
, there is
i,
, such that
. From
and
, we get,
and since
f is uniformly continuous, we get,
. Since
converges to
, for
and
, there is a
such that
, and for all
. Now, for each
, we get
which shows that
uniformly. □
Example 5. Consider and the metric space . Let be the standard AVFM-spaces (1). Let for every . Then, uniformly if and only if uniformly. Proof. Suppose that
and
. Put
. Since
, there is a
such that
for all
and for every
and hence,
for all
and for every
. Then,
uniformly. The proof of the converse is similar. □
Example 6. Let and be metric spaces. Let and be the standard AVFM-spaces (1). Let be a family of functions from T to S. So, is equicontinuous with respect to (w.r.t) δ if and only if is equicontinuous w.r.t. Proof. Let and . Set . The equicontinuity of w.r.t. , implies that there is such that implies for all . Put and .
Then
and hence
for all
, which shows the equicontinuity of
w.r.t.
. □
Example 7. Consider the compact metric space , the complete metric space and consider in Example 6. Let be such that is compact for every . Then there is a continuous function g from T to S and a subsequence of such that uniformly on T.
Proof. Suppose that is the standard AVFM-spaces. Then is complete if and only if is complete. Then, Example 5, Example 6 and Theorem 4, complete the proof. □
In the next result, we show the metrizablity of AVFM-spaces.
Lemma 3. Suppose that is a AVFM-space. Consider the open covering of T. Then there is an open covering of T such that is a countably locally finite refinement of .
Proof. Using the well-ordering theorem we find a well ordering < for
. For each
,
and
, define
and
. If
with
and if
and
, we show that
. Since
, we have
. Since
and
,
and hence
. For given
, we can find
such that
. Let
. Then the
’s are open [
7,
12]. We claim the
’s are disjoint. Let
with
and let
and
. We show that
. If
, since
and
, there exist
and
such that
and
. Since
, we have
. However
which is a contradiction and hence
.
Let
. We claim that
refines
. If
, then there exists
such that
. Since
, we have
. Since
for all
,
refines
. Since
, we can find
such that
. For each
,
intersects at most one element of
. For, if
intersects
and
with
, then there exist
and
such that
,
. Since
, we have
. However
which is a contradiction and so
is locally finite. Now, we consider the family
. Let
. Since
is an cover of
T, there exists a
such that
G is the first element of
that contains
t. Since
G is open, there exists
such that
. Then
and since
G is the first element of
that contains
t,
and thus
. Hence
is an open covering of
T such that
is countably locally finite refinement of
. □
Theorem 5. AVFM-spaces have a countably locally finite basis.
Proof. For each
and
, let
. Then
covers
T for each
. From Lemma 3, there exists an open covering
of
T which is a countably locally finite refinement of
. Let
. Then
is countably locally finite. We claim that
is a basis for
T. Let
. Given
and
, we can find
such that
and also we can find
such that
. Let
with
. Since
refines
, there exists a
such that
. For every
, we get
Then and so . □
Corollary 1. AVFM-spaces are metrizable.
Proof. Lemma 3 and Theorem 5, shows the regularity of
AVFM-spaces and so have a basis that is countably locally finite. Then, by the Nagata-Smirnov metrization theorem ([
27], Theorem 40.3, p. 250), they are metrizable. □