On a theorem of Grothendieck in \(C_ p\)-theory (Q1373165)

A space is a \(g\)-space if the closure of every relatively countably compact subset of \(X\) is compact. Grothendieck proved that if \(X\) is countably compact, then the space of continuous real-valued functions on \(X\), \(C_p(X)\), is a \(g\)-space under the topology of pointwise convergence. This was extended by J. D. Pryce, so that for such \(X\), every subspace of \(C_p(X)\) is a \(g\)-space. A space \(X\) having the property that every subspace of \(C_p(X)\) is a \(g\)-space is now called a Grothendieck space. The main theme in this paper is the expansion of the class of known Grothendieck spaces, and the tying together of the many properties that relate to Grothendieck's theorem. An example of a class of spaces shown to be Grothendieck spaces is the class of all continuous images of products of spaces, each of which contains a dense Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-space. Because a \(g\)-space is a hereditary \(g\)-space if and only if every compact subspace is Fréchet-Urysohn, some results and open problems in this paper have to do with understanding when compact subsets of \(C_p(X)\) are Fréchet-Urysohn. Also a number of consistency results are given that concern Grothendieck spaces.