Countably compact hyperspaces and Frolík sums (Q2371794)

The main goal is: characterize the spaces \(X\) whose hyperspace \(H(X)\) is countably compact. The main conjecture is that \(H(X)\) is countably compact iff there is a non-principal ultrafilter \(u\) on \(\omega\) with \(X\) \(u\)-compact. (A space is \(u\)-compact iff every sequence has a \(u\)-limit.) The two main results define a property that any Hausdorff space \(X\) with \(H(X)\) countably compact must have and give a property on \(X\) which entails \(H(X)\) not countably compact if \(X\) Hausdorff. The property \(R(\kappa)\) is defined as follows: If \(\{K_{\alpha}: \alpha < \kappa\}\) is a family of closed sets separated by disjoint open sets, and if \(k_{\alpha} < \omega\) for each \(\alpha\), then \(\Pi_{\alpha < \kappa}K_{\alpha}^{k_{\alpha}}\) is countably compact. Theorem. If \(X\) is Hausdorff and \(H(X)\) is countably compact then \(X\) has property \(R(\kappa)\) for all \(\kappa\). On the other hand the following is proved: Theorem. If \(X\) is Hausdorff and there is a family \(\{K_{u}: u\) a non-principal ultrafilter on \(\omega\}\) of closed sets which is separated by a family of disjoint open sets, and each \(K_u\) is not \(u\)-compact, then \(H(X)\) is not countably compact. A secondary question is: When is the hyperspace of a Frolik sum countably compact? (The Frolik sum starts with a topological sum \(\bigoplus_{\alpha < \kappa}X_{\alpha}\) and adds a point \(p\): basic neighborhoods of \(p\) are all \(\{p\} \cup \bigcup_{\alpha \in \kappa \setminus E}X_{\alpha}\) where \(E\) is finite. This space is denoted by \(F(X_{\alpha}: \alpha < \kappa)\).) The main result here is that if \(\kappa < \mathfrak t \;(=\) the minimal height of a tower in \(P(\omega)\)/finite), \(H(X_{\alpha})\) is totally countably compact and \(X_{\alpha}\) is Hausdorff for all \(\alpha < \kappa\), then \(H(F(X_{\alpha}: \alpha < \kappa))\) is totally countably compact. (A space is totally countably compact iff every sequence has a subsequence contained in some compact set.) Other results include: Theorem. The product of fewer than \(\mathfrak n\) totally countably compact spaces is countably compact. (\(\mathfrak n\) is the Novak number, the smallest size of a family of nowhere dense subsets of \(\omega^*\) which covers \(\omega^*\).) Theorem. If \(\mathfrak b = \mathfrak c\) then there is a first countable countably compact 0-dimensional Hausdorff space with \(H(X)\) not countably compact. (\(\mathfrak b\) is the size of the smallest unbounded family in \(\omega^{\omega}/\)finite.) Theorem. The existence of a countably compact \(T_4\) space \(X\) so \(X^2\) has a closed discrete set of size \(\kappa\) follows from the existence of an HFD of size \(\kappa\). (An HFD is a subspace of \(2^{\omega_1}\) with strong properties too technical to give here; they are a useful source of counterexamples.) Note that previous constructions of such a space used MA (van Douwen) or CH (Pavlov). This is relevant since if \(X^2\) has a closed discrete set of size \(\kappa > \omega\) then \(X^2\) (hence \(H(X)\)) is not countably compact.