On HČ-completeness and Katětov extensions (Q2216581)

Some years after \textit{E. Čech} published [``On bicompact spaces'', Ann. Math. (2) 38, 823--844 (1937; Zbl 0017.42803)], several authors, e.g., see \textit{A. V. Arkhangel'skij} in [Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. I 16, No. 2, 37--39 (1961; Zbl 0106.15702)] and \textit{Z. Frolík} in [Czech. Math. J. 10(85), 359--379 (1960; Zbl 0100.18701)], and later, \textit{K. Császár} in [Ann. Univ. Sci. Budap. Rolando Eötvös, Sect. Math. 25, 229--238 (1982; Zbl 0509.54018)] obtained internal characterizations of Čech-complete spaces, such as the following one: A Tychonoff space \(X\) is Čech-complete iff (*) there exists in \(X\) a sequence \(\{{\mathcal A}_n\}\) of open covers such that if \(\mathcal F\) is any centered family of closed subsets of \(X\), and there is for every \(n\in{\mathbb N}\) a set \(F_n\in{\mathcal F}\) contained in a set \(A_n\in {\mathcal A}_n\), then \(\bigcap\mathcal F\neq\emptyset\) (a family is said to be \textit{centered} iff it has the finite intersection property). In the article under review its authors define a Hausdorff space \(X\) to be \textit{HČ-complete} (\textit{strongly HČ-complete}) iff it satisfies the condition (*) (iff there exists in \(X\) an open cover \(\mathcal A\) such that if \(\mathcal F\) is any centered family of closed subsets of \(X\), and there is for every \(n\in{\mathbb N}\) a set \(F_n\in\mathcal F\) contained in a set \(A_n\in\mathcal A\), then \(\bigcap{\mathcal F}\neq\emptyset\)). They state that their purpose is to continue the study of such spaces done in [Császár, loc. cit.] and in [\textit{D. K. McNeill}, Properties of \(H\)-sets, Katětov spaces and \(H\)-closed extensions with countable remainder. University of Kansas (Ph.D. Thesis) (2011)], and to focus especially on properties of a Hausdorff space \(X\) which ensure that its Katětov extension \(\kappa X\) be HČ-complete. We recall that \(\kappa X=X\cup\{\mathcal U:\mathcal U\text{ is a nonconvergent open ultrafilter on }X\}\), topologized so that a set \(V\subset\kappa X\) is defined to be \textit{open in \(\kappa X\)} iff (i) \(V\cap X\) is open in \(X\), and (ii) for every \({\mathcal U}\in \kappa X\setminus X\), if \(\mathcal U\in V\), then \(V\cap X\in\mathcal U\). Some of the examples and theorems they obtain are the following. Locally compact Hausdorff implies strongly HČ-complete, which implies HČ-complete, and \({\mathbb R}\setminus{\mathbb Q}\) illustrates the two properties are distinct. Both properties are closed hereditary, there exists a Urysohn HČ-complete space which is not of the second category, but any HČ-complete space in which every nonempty open set contains the closure of a nonempty open set is Baire. If a Hausdorff space \(X= D\cup K\), where \(K\) is compact, \(D\) is discrete, and \(D\cap K=\emptyset\), then \(\kappa X\) is strongly HČ-complete. If an HČ-complete (strongly HČ-complete) space \(X\) either has a dense set of isolated points or is countably compact, then \(\kappa X\) is HČ-complete (strongly HČ-complete). If \(X\) is a space without isolated points and \(\kappa X\) is HČ-complete, then \(X\) must be feebly compact. Noting that Čech-completeness is known to be countably productive, the authors raise several questions about productivity and HČ-completeness, and they prove that for any positive integer \(m\) and infinite discrete space \(X\), the space \((\kappa X)^m\) is strongly HČ-complete. They also provide a new and different proof of the theorem of \textit{C.-T. Liu} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 130, 86--104 (1968; Zbl 0153.52301)] which gives necessary and sufficient conditions for a family of nonempty Hausdorff spaces \(\{X_\alpha\}\) that \(\kappa(\Pi X_\alpha)\) and \(\Pi\kappa X_\alpha\) be equivalent extension spaces.