Generic left-separated spaces and calibers (Q1403809)

A space \(X\) is left-separated provided there is a well-order \(\leq\) on \(X\) such that for all \(x\in X\), \(\{y\in X:x\leq y\}\) is open in \(X\) (this term is not defined in the paper). A cardinal \(\kappa\) (only regular cardinals are considered in this paper) is said to be a caliber of a space X (denoted \(\kappa\in Cal (X)\)) if among any \(\kappa\) open subsets of \(X\) there are always \(\kappa\) many with non-empty intersection. Generalizing a result of \textit{A. V. Arhangel'skii} [Topology Appl. 104, 13-164 (2000; Zbl 0944.54012)], \textit{I. Juhász} and \textit{Z. Szentmiklóssy} [Topology Appl. 119, 315-324 (2002; Zbl 1014.54005)] proved (using the continuum hypothesis) that if \(X\) is Lindelöf, \(T_3\), countably tight, and \(\omega_1\in Cal(X)\), then the density of \(X\) is countable, i.e., \(d(X) = \omega\) (in ZFC, Arhangel\('\)skii proved \(d(X) \leq 2^\omega\)) . In a forcing model, the authors construct a Hausdorff zero-dimensional space \(X_\nu\) that is hereditarily Lindelöf (HL), countably tight, and left-separated of order type \(\nu\), where \(\nu\) is a regular uncountable cardinal (hence \(d(X)\geq\nu\geq \omega_1\)). This example shows that the CH result of Juhász-Szentmiklóssy is consistently sharp. The space \(X_\nu\) in the example is a graph topology on \(\nu\). Graph topologies defined by functions \(f:\nu^2\rightarrow 2\) were introduced by the first author in [Handbook of set-theoretic topology, 63-109 (1984; Zbl 0559.54004)]. The model is defined by forcing with the poset \(P_\nu= \{p\in Fn(v^2,2): p\text{ satisfies (i) and (ii)}\}\) where (i) means \(p(\alpha,\alpha) = 1\) for all \(\alpha \in \nu\), and (ii) means \(p(\alpha,\beta) = 1 \Rightarrow \alpha\leq\beta\). The authors show that the graph space \(X_\nu=\nu\) defined by the generic function \(f =\cup G:\nu^S\rightarrow 2\) has the mentioned properties. While the proofs of HL and countably tight require some effort, it is nevertheless remarkable that this simple forcing produces such interesting properties on \(X_\nu\). The authors also investigate the structure of the class \(Cal(X)\) of regular cardinals. For any countable set \(A\) of regular cardinals they show that the topological union \(X_A=\oplus\{X_\nu:\nu\in A\}\), which is Hausdorff zero-dimensional, HL countable tight, and satisfies \(\kappa\) is a caliber of \(X_A\) if and only if \(\kappa\not\in A\). Whether a similar result holds when \(A\) is uncountable is an open problem (\(X_A\) is no longer Lindelöf).