Monolithic spaces and \(D\)-spaces revisited (Q1005179)

The concept of \(D\)-space was introduced by \textit{E. K. van Douwen} and \textit{W. F. Pfeffer} in [Pac. J. Math. 81, 371--377 (1979; Zbl 0409.54011)], and many interesting results on \(D\)-spaces have been obtained since then by \textit{A. V. Arhangel'skii}, \textit{C. R. Borges}, \textit{R. Buzyakova}, \textit{T. Eisworth}, \textit{G. Gruenhage}, \textit{A. C. Wehrly} and others. The concept of a monolithic space was introduced by \textit{A. V. Arhangel'skii} in 1984 and has proved very useful in the theory of cardinal invariants and in \(C_p\)-theory. In this paper the author introduces the concept of a (strongly) monotonically monolithic space and proves that a strongly monotonically monolithic countably compact space is metrizable and that a monotonically monolithic space is a hereditary \(D\)-space. The author also shows that \(C_p(X)\) is monotonically monolithic for any Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-space \(X\), which yields a broader view of the results of Buzyakova and Gruenhage on the hereditary \(D\)-property in function spaces.