Continuous weak selections for products (Q386872)

For a topological space \(X\), let \(\mathcal{F}(X)\) denote the space of all non-empty closed subsets of \(X\) with the Vietoris topology, and \([X]^2\) the subspace of \(\mathcal{F}(X)\) consisting of subsets of \(X\) with exactly two elements. A mapping \(\sigma : [X]^2 \to X\) is called a weak selection on \(X\) if \(\sigma (\{x,y\} ) \in \{x,y\}\) for every \(\{x,y\} \in [X]^2\). In this paper, the authors discuss some topological consequences from the existence of a continuous weak selection on product spaces. For a point \(p \in X\), the approaching number \(a(p,X)\) of \(p\) in \(X\) is defined by \(a(p,X)= \min \{\kappa : p \in \overline{A} \text{ for some } A \subset X \setminus \{p\} \text{ with } |A| \leq \kappa \}\). The authors prove the following theorem: Let \(X\) be a non-discrete space with \(a(p,X)=\omega\) for some point \(p \in X\) and \(Y\) a closed continuous image of a suborderable space. If there exists a continuous weak selection on \(X\times Y\), then \(Y\) is hereditarily paracompact. The proof is based on a lemma using an ordinal space and \textit{W. Bula}'s theorem [Fundam. Math. 126, 245--251 (1986; Zbl 0612.54040)]. As a generalization of a theorem obtained by \textit{V. Gutev} and \textit{A. H. Tomita} [Publ.\ Mat., Barc.\ 51, No.\ 1, 3--15 (2007; Zbl 1133.54005)], the authors also prove the following theorem: Let \(X\) be a space and \(Y\) a non-discrete space. If there exists a continuous weak selection on \(X \times Y\), then \(X\) is totally disconnected.