On coverings of infinite-dimensional metric spaces (Q1201237)

The authors investigate generalizations of Stone's theorem to uniform covers of metric spaces. The point-character of a uniform space \((X,{\mathcal U})\) is defined to be the least infinite cardinal number \(\alpha=\text{pc}(X,{\mathcal U})\) so that each uniform cover of \(X\) has a uniform refinement with order less than \(\alpha\). In particular, every uniform cover of a uniform space with point-character less than \(\omega_ 1\) has a locally finite uniform refinement. It is shown that \(\text{pc }l_ p(\omega_ \alpha)\leq \omega_{\alpha+1}\) where \(\alpha\) is a limit ordinal and \(l_ p(\omega_ \alpha)\) is the Banach space of all real functions \(f\) on \(\omega_ \alpha\) so that \(\sum_{i<\omega_ \alpha}| f(i)|^ p\) converges. A related uniform invariant, decomposition dimension, is defined. The decomposition dimension of a uniform space \(X\), \(\text{dec }X\), is defined to be the least cardinal number \(\alpha\) (when \(\alpha\) is infinite) so that each uniform cover of \(X\) has a uniform \(\beta\)- disjoint refinement. In particular, \(\text{pc }X\leq\text{dec }X\) for every uniform space \(X\). The authors conclude by computing \(\text{dec }c_ 0(K)\) for infinite cardinals \(K\).