Dually properties and cardinal inequalities (Q1688197)

A \textit{neighbourhood assignment} for a topological space \((X,\tau)\) is a function \(\phi: X \to \tau\) satisfying \(x \in \phi(x)\) for all \(x \in X\). A set \(Y \subseteq X\) is said to be a \textit{kernel} of \(\phi\) if \(\phi(Y) = \{\phi(y): y \in Y\}\) covers \(X\). Given a topological property \(\mathcal{P}\), the class \(\mathcal{P}^*\) of the \textit{dually \(\mathcal{P}\) spaces} (with respect to neighbourhood assignments) is the class of all topological spaces \(X\) such that for any neighbourhood assignment \(\phi\) there is some \(Y \subseteq X\) which satisfies \(\mathcal{P}\) and is a kernel of \(\phi\). If \(\mathcal{P} = \mathcal{P}^*\), we say that the property \(\mathcal{P}\) is \textit{self-dual}. A topological space has the \textit{countable chain condition} (CCC for short) if every disjoint family of non-empty open sets is countable, and it is said to have the \textit{discrete countable chain condition} (DCCC for short) if every discrete family of non-empty open sets is countable. Given a set \(X\), a subset \(A \subseteq X\) and a family \(\mathcal{F}\) of subsets of \(X\), the \textit{iterated stars} \(\mathrm{St}^k\) of \(A\) with respect to \(\mathcal{F}\), for \(k \geqslant 0\), are defined as follows: \(\mathrm{St}^0(A,\mathcal{F}) = A\), \(\mathrm{St}^1(A,\mathcal{F}) = \mathrm{St}(A,\mathcal{F}) := \bigcup\{F \in \mathcal{F}: F \cap A \neq \emptyset\}\) and \(\mathrm{St}^{k + 1}(A,\mathcal{F}) := \mathrm{St}(\mathrm{St}^k(A, \mathcal{F}))\) for all \(k \geqslant 0\). For any \(x \in X\) and \(k \geqslant 0\), \(\mathrm{St}^k(x,\mathcal{F})\) is short for \(\mathrm{St}^k(\{x\},\mathcal{F})\). A \textit{diagonal sequence of rank \(k\)} on a topological space \(X\), for \(k \geqslant 1\), is a countable family \(\{\mathcal{U}_n: n < \omega\}\) of open coverings of \(X\) such that \(\{x\} = \bigcap\{\mathrm{St}^k(x,\mathcal{U}_n): n < \omega\}\) for each \(x \in X\). A topological space \(X\) is said to have a \textit{rank \(k\)-diagonal}\, if there is a diagonal sequence of rank \(k\) on \(X\). It is known that a topological space has a \textit{\(G_\delta\)-diagonal} (meaning, there is a sequence \(\{G_n: n < \omega\}\) of open sets in \(X^2\) such that \(\bigcap\{G_n: n < \omega\} = \Delta_x := \{(x,x): x \in X\}\)) if, and only if, \(X\) has a rank \(1\)-diagonal. In the paper under review, the authors prove that DCCC is self-dual with respect to neighbourhood assignments, and, using this result, they also prove that if \(\mathcal{P}\) is any property lying between CCC and DCCC, then \(\mathcal{P}\) is self dual in the class of perfectly normal spaces. The authors also establish a number of results concerning the cardinality of dually CCC spaces which satisfy additional properties such as the ones listed in the previous paragraph. More specifically, it is shown that the cardinality of a dually CCC space \(X\) does not exceed \(2^{\aleph_0}\) if \(X\) satisfies one of the following conditions: (1) \(X\) has a rank-\(2\) diagonal; (2) \(X\) is first countable and has a \(G_\delta\)-diagonal ; or (3) \(X\) is first countable and \textit{perfect} (i.e., all closed sets are \(G_\delta\)). The authors also show that the cardinalities of the closed, discrete subsets of first countable, dually CCC spaces cannot exceed \(2^{\aleph_0}\).