On indecomposability of \(\beta X\) (Q1637165)

A connected topological space \(X\) is called \textit{widely-connected} if every non-degenerate connected subset of \(X\) is dense in \(X\). \textit{A continuum} is a connected compact Hausdorff space that contains more than one point. A topological space \(X\) is \textit{indecomposable} if every connected subset of \(X\) is either dense or nowhere dense in \(X\). The above notion is consistent with the classical definition of an indecomposable continuum, i.e., a continuum that cannot be written as the union of any two of its proper subcontinua. If \(p\) and \(q\) are two points in a connected space \(X\), then \(X\) is said to be \textit{reducible} between \(p\) and \(q\) if there is a closed connected subset \(C\subset X\) such that \(C\neq X\) and \(\{p,q\}\subset C\). Otherwise, \(X\) is \textit{irreducible between \(p\) and \(q\)}. A continuum \(X\) is \textit{irreducible} if there exist two distinct points \(p,q\in X\) between which \(X\) is irreducible. A space \(X\) is \textit{strongly indecomposable} if for every two non-empty disjoint open sets \(U\) and \(V\) in \(X\) there are closed subsets \(A\) and \(B\) of the space \(X\) such that \(X=A\cup B\), \(A\cap U\neq\emptyset\), \(B\cap U\neq \emptyset \) and \(A\cap B \subset V\). In the paper it is established, among other things, that, for any Tychonoff space \(X\), its Stone-Čech compactification \(\beta X\) is indecomposable if and only if \(X\) is strongly indecomposable. The author also shows that indecomposability and irreducibility are equivalent properties in compactifications of widely-connected separable metric spaces.