General absolutes of topological spaces (Q1187307)

An absolute of a topological space \(X\) is a pair \((TX,t_ X)\) consisting of an extremally disconnected space \(TX\) and a \(\theta\)-continuous, closed, irreducible compact separated surjection \(t_ X: TX\to X\). If \(t_ X\) is continuous then \((TX,t_ X)\) is called the Ponomarev absolute and is denoted \((PX,k_ X)\); if \(TX\) is regular then \((TX,t_ X)\) is called the Iliadis absolute and is denoted \((EX,k_ X)\). Both the Ponomarev and Iliadis absolutes are unique up to homeomorphism and have the same underlying set; \(k_ X\) can be thought of as the same mapping between sets. Only the topologies of \(PX\) and \(EX\) (and hence the properties of \(k_ X\)) differ. The author had shown in [ibid. 57, No. 1/2, 111-120 (1991; see the review above)] that \(EX\) is the semiregularization of \(PX\). In this paper he shows that if \((TX,t_ X)\) is any absolute of \(X\), then the underlying set of \(TX\) can be viewed as the (common) underlying set of \(PX\) and \(EX\), equipped with a topology coarser than that of \(PX\) and finer than that of \(EX\). The map \(t_ X\) can be viewed as \(k_ X\). He illustrates this by a detailed investigation of the space \(RX=\{(x,\alpha)\in rX\times UX:\) \(\alpha\) converges to \(x\) in \(X\)\}, equipped with the subspace topology inherited from \(rX\times UX\). (Here \(rX\) is the semiregularization of \(X\) and \(UX\) is the space of open ultrafilters on \(X\).) He also discusses how \(rX\) may be considered as a bireflection in categories whose objects are topological spaces and whose morphisms are appropriate modifications of continuous functions. [Several of the lemmas and examples presented in this paper appear in the book ``Extensions and Absolutes of Hausdorff spaces'' by \textit{J. Porter} and the reviewer (1987; Zbl 0652.54016)].