Compact condensations of Hausdorff spaces (Q2039638)

The paper concerns the classical problem of Alexandroff on the existence of a continuous bijection from a Hausdorff space \(X\) onto a compact space. Such spaces \(X\) are called subcompact. Working on this problem, the authors in a recent paper defined \(a_{\tau}\)-spaces and strictly \(a_{\tau}\)-spaces, where \(\tau\) is an infinite cardinal [\textit{V. I. Belugin} et al., Math. Notes 109, No. 6, 849--858 (2021; Zbl 1473.54010); translation from Mat. Zametki 109, No. 6, 810--820 (2021)]. In the paper under review, they introduce new classes of spaces related to (strictly) \(a_{\tau}\)-spaces. A space \(X\) is said to be \(a_{\tau}\)-subcompact (resp., strictly \(a_{\tau}\)-subcompact) if for each \(C\subset X\) of cardinality \(\tau\) there exists a continuous bijection from \(X \setminus C\) onto an \(a_{\tau}\)-space \(Y\) (resp. there exists a continuous bijection from \(X\setminus C\) onto a strictly \(a_{\tau}\)-space \(Y\) that can be continuously extended to \(X\)). If in these definitions \(Y\) is compact, then \(X\) is called almost (strictly) \(a_{\tau}\)-subcompact. One of the results is: if \(X = Z \oplus (\oplus\{X_{\alpha}: \alpha < \tau\})\), where \(Z\) is compact and each \(X_{\alpha}\) is an \(a_{\tau}\)-space of cardinality greater than \(\tau\), then \(X\) is almost \(a_{\tau}\)-subcompact. The paper contains three illustrative examples and three open problems.