Point-Set Topology 2: 1 Connectedness and Path-Connectedness

Point-Set Topology 2
Tam
1 Connectedness and path-connectedness

Definition 1. Let X be a topological space. A separation of X is a pair of
disjoint nonempty open sets U and V in X whose union is X. The space X
is connected if there does not exist a separation of X.
Connected subsets of the real line are either one-point sets or intervals.
Connected sets in Rn , for n 2, are not so nice. For example, the following
set in R2 is connected.

1
S = (x, y) R y = sin , x > 0 (x, y) R2 | x = 0, y [1, 1]
2

x
Lemma 2. The image of an connected set under a continuous map is con-
nected.
Definition 3. A metric space X is path-connected if for every p, q X,
there exists a continuous map : [0, 1] X such that (0) = p and
(1) = q. The map is called a path connecting p and q.
Theorem 4. If A is path-connected, then A is connected. The converse is
not true.
The following theorem is an example how we can use connectedness to
prove that two spaces are not homeomorphic.
Theorem 5. None of the following space is homeomorphic to any of the
others: (0, 1), [0, 1), [0, 1] and R2 .
The proof of the next theorem is an example of a common arguement
using connectedness in topology, geometry and analysis. The general prin-
ciple is that if you want to prove that a property P is true (or not true) on
a connected space X, then try considering the subset of X where P is true
and the subset where P is true. Then try to show both subsets are open.
Since X is connected, one of them has to be empty.
1
Theorem 6. An open set A in Rn is connected if and only if it is path-
connected.
Proof. Since path-connectedness implies connectedness we need to only show

that A is path-connected if it is connected. Suppose A is nonempty and
connected. Pick p A. Let U be the set of points in A that can be
connected to p by a path in A. Let V = A \ U , so V is the set of points in
A that cannot be connected to p by path in A. So A = U V . We claim
that U and V are open. To show that U is open, let q U and be a path
connecting p and q. Since A is open, there exists a open ball Br (q) A. For
each r Br (q), there is a path in A connecting q and r. We can take
to be the straight line connecting q and r. Thus, Br (q) U and U is open.
Similarly one can prove that V is open. Thus, either U or V is the empty
set by the connectedness of A.
Definition 7. If x X, then the connected (path-connected) component of

X containing x is the union of all connected (path-connected) subsets of X
that contain x.
Lemma 8. Connected components are connected.
Connected components are not generally open or closed. For examples,

the connected component of 0 in Q is the set {0}, which is neither open or
closed.
A metric space X is locally connected at x X if for each open set
U containing x there exists an connected open set V containing x that is
contained in U . If X is locally connected at every point in X, then we say
that X is locally connected.
Theorem 9. A metric space X is locally connected if and only if for each

open set U in X, each component of U is open in X.
2 Metric spaces
Definition 10. A metric space is a set X with a function d : X X R
that satisfies the following properties
1. d(x, y) = 0 if and only if x = y (Definiteness)
2. For all x, y X, d(x, y) = d(y, x) (Symmetry)
3. For all x, y, z X, d(x, y) + d(y, z) d(x, z) (Triangle inequality)
2
It is not hard to see that the above three properties imply that the metric
d is always non-negative. A subset of a metric space has an induced metric
which makes the subset into a metric space.
Example 11. The following spaces are metric spaces.
1. Rn with the Euclidean distance.
2. Normed vector spaces and inner product vector spaces.
3. The space C[0, 1] of continuous functions from [0, 1] to R with the

metric d(f, g) = sup{|f (x) g(x)| | x [0, 1]}.
Definition 12. Given x X and r > 0, we define Br (x) = {y X | d(x, y) <
} called the rball centered at x. The collection of all ball Br (x) for x X
and r > 0 is a basis for the metric topology on X induced by d.
A sequence xn X converges to x X if for each > 0 there exists
N > 0 such that d(xn , x) < whenever n > N . We write xn x.
For metric spaces (X, d) and (X 0 , d0 ), a map f : X X 0 is continuous
iff for each > 0, there exists > 0 such that d0 (f (x), f (y)) < whenever
d(x, y) < .
Theorem 13. Let f : X X 0 . Then f is continuous if and only if for
every sequence xn x in X, f (xn ) f (x).
Definition 14. Let (X, d) be a metric space. A sequence {xn } in X is a
Cauchy sequence if for each > 0 there exists N > 0 such that d(xn , xm ) <
whenever m, n > N .
It is clear that a convergent sequence is Cauchy. The converse is not true.
A metric space X is complete if every Cauchy sequence in X converges.
Definition 15. Let (X, d) and (X 0 , d0 ) be metric spaces.
1. A bijective map f : X X 0 is an isometry if d0 (f (x), f (y)) = d(x, y),
i.e. f is distance preserving. We then say that X and X 0 are isometric.
2. A map g : X X is called a contraction map if there exists 0 < < 1

such that for every x, y X, we have d(g(x), g(y)) d(x, y).
Clearly isometries and contraction maps are continuous.
Theorem 16 (The Banach fixed point principle). Let (X, d) be a complete
metric space, and let g : X X be a contraction map. Then there exists
uniquely a point x X that is fixed by g, i.e. g(x) = x.
3
3 Function spaces
Let X and Y be topological spaces. We denote Y X be the space of all
functions from X to Y , C(X, Y ) the space of all continuous functions from
X to Y . If Y is a metric space, we denote B(X, Y ) the space of bounded
functions from X to Y .
3.1 Pointwise convergence topology

For x X and U open in Y , let S(x, U ) = {f | f Y X and f (x) U }.
The sets S(x, U ) form a basis for the topology of pointwise convergence of
Y X . A sequence fn of functions from X to Y converges to a function f if
for all x X, fn (x) converges to f (x) in Y .
3.2 Uniform convergence topology

Now, for this subsection, suppose that Y is a metric space with a metric d.
We define the uniform metric on B(X, Y ) as
(f, g) = sup{d(f (x), g(x)) | x X}
for f, g B(X, Y ). The topology on B(X, Y ) induced by this metric is

called the uniform convergence topology. A sequence fn of functions from
X to Y converges to a function f if for each > 0, there exists N > 0 such
that whenever n > 0, we have d(fn (x), f (x)) < for all x X.
The space C(X, Y ) is closed in B(X, Y ) with repest to the uniform
convergence topology, but not in the pointwise convergence topology.
3.3 The compact-open topology

Definition 17. Let X and Y be topological spaces. The compact-open
topology on C(X, Y ) is the topology generated by sets of the form S(K, U ),
defined as follows: fix K X compact and U Y open, and let
S(K, U ) = {f C(X, Y ) | f (K) U }.
If Y is a metric space, then convergence in the compact-open topology is the

same as uniform convergence on compact sets, i.e. sequence fn of functions
from X to Y converges to a function f if for all compact K X, fn (x)
converges uniformly to f (x) for all x K.
4
For a nice enough metric space X, the set of isometries of X with the
compact-open topology is a Lie group (youll learn about these in Manifolds
II).
Example 18. Consider Isom(R). Let Z be the set of elements of Isom(R)

that are translations by an integral distance. Then Z is a discrete set in
Isom(R) with respect to the compact-open topology.
In topology/geometry, if you take the quotient of nice spaces (i.e.

manifolds) by a discrete group of Isom of the spaces, you will generally get
a nice spaces (where nice here is not a mathematical term).
Example 19. Consider Isom(S 1 ). If is an irrational angle, then the set

{Rotation by k | k Z} is a non-discrete subset of Isom(S 1 ) with respect
to the compact-open topology.

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Point-Set Topology 2

1 Connectedness and path-connectedness

Proof. Since path-connectedness implies connectedness we need to only show

Definition 7. If x X, then the connected (path-connected) component of

Lemma 8. Connected components are connected.

Connected components are not generally open or closed. For examples,

Theorem 9. A metric space X is locally connected if and only if for each

1. d(x, y) = 0 if and only if x = y (Definiteness)

2. For all x, y X, d(x, y) = d(y, x) (Symmetry)

3. For all x, y, z X, d(x, y) + d(y, z) d(x, z) (Triangle inequality)

2. Normed vector spaces and inner product vector spaces.

3. The space C[0, 1] of continuous functions from [0, 1] to R with the

2. A map g : X X is called a contraction map if there exists 0 < < 1

3.1 Pointwise convergence topology

3.2 Uniform convergence topology

(f, g) = sup{d(f (x), g(x)) | x X}

for f, g B(X, Y ). The topology on B(X, Y ) induced by this metric is

3.3 The compact-open topology

S(K, U ) = {f C(X, Y ) | f (K) U }.

If Y is a metric space, then convergence in the compact-open topology is the

Example 18. Consider Isom(R). Let Z be the set of elements of Isom(R)

In topology/geometry, if you take the quotient of nice spaces (i.e.

Example 19. Consider Isom(S 1 ). If is an irrational angle, then the set

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