The Souslin number in set-theoretic topology (Q1329391)

A family \({\mathcal B}\) of open subsets of a space \(X\) is called an \(s\pi\)- base of a family \({\mathcal A}\) in \(X\) if for each nonempty \(A\in {\mathcal A}\), \(\emptyset\neq \bigcup\{ B\in A\): \(B\in {\mathcal B}\}\in {\mathcal A}\). For a family \({\mathcal A}\) of subsets of \(X\), \(\widehat{\mathcal A}=\{ P\subset X\): \(\text{Int}(P\cap A)\neq \emptyset\) for all \(A\in {\mathcal A}\}\) whereas for a system \({\mathfrak U}\) of families of sets, \(\widehat{\mathfrak U}=\{ \widehat{\mathcal A}\): \({\mathcal A}\in{\mathfrak U}\}\). A cardinal \(\tau\) is called a strict ap-caliber for \(X\) whenever for every system \({\mathfrak U}\) of families of subsets of \(X\), such that every \({\mathcal A}\in {\mathfrak U}\) has an \(s\pi\)-base of size less than \(\tau\), there exists \({\mathfrak W}\subset {\mathfrak U}\) of size less than \(\tau\) such that \(\bigcup \widehat{\mathfrak W}= \bigcup \widehat{\mathfrak U}\). If a regular cardinal is an ap-caliber for \(X\), then it is also a precaliber for \(X\). The main result of the paper says that if \(\tau\) is a regular cardinal and \(\nu^{c(X)} <\tau\) for all \(\nu<\tau\), then \(\tau\) is a strict ap-caliber for \(X\). This result strongly improves the corresponding results of \textit{S. Argyros} and \textit{A. Tsarpalias} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 270, 149-162 (1982; Zbl 0475.54002)] as well as a result of \textit{I. Bandlov} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 22, 196-200 (1980); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 253, 1036-1039 (1980; Zbl 0498.54007)]. The paper also contains a survey of those cardinal estimations which concern the Suslin number.