Order- and graph-theoretic investigation of dimensions of finite topological spaces and Alexandroff spaces (Q2274045)

There exists a well-known one-to-one correspondence between Alexandroff topologies on a set \(X\) and preorder relations on \(X\). Under this bijection, topologies satisfying the \(T_0\) separation axiom correspond to partial orders. In addition, a subset of an Alexandroff topological space is open if and only if it is a down-set of the corresponding preorder relation. Making use of this correspondence, the authors study in this article the small inductive dimension, the large inductive dimension and the covering dimension of Alexandroff spaces. First, they prove that the small inductive dimension (resp. large inductive dimension, covering dimension) of an Alexandroff space coincides with that of its Kolmogorov quotient. Then they study each of these notions in particular. It is known that the small inductive dimension of a finite \(T_0\)-space coincides with the height of its associated poset ([\textit{P. Wiederhold} and \textit{R. G. Wilson}, ``Dimension for Alexandrov spaces'', in: Vision Geometry Proceedings of Society Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers 1832, 13--22 (1992); \textit{A. V. Evako} et al., J. Math. Imaging Vis. 6, No. 2--3, 109--119 (1996; Zbl 1191.05088); \textit{D. N. Georgiou} et al., Topology Appl. 168, 103--119 (2014; Zbl 1295.54032)]). Therefore, for any finite \(T_0\)-space \(X\) the small inductive dimension of \(X\) is at most \(\# X -1\). As a consequence of the previously mentioned results, the authors extend this upper bound to arbitrary finite topological spaces and prove that the the small inductive dimension of a finite space \(X\) is \(\# X -1\) if and only if its associated preordered set is a totally ordered poset. On the other hand, it is also known that the covering dimension of a finite space \(X\) with \(\# X\geq 2\) is at most \(\# X -2\) [\textit{D. N. Georgiou} and \textit{A. C. Megaritis}, Appl. Math. Comput. 218, No. 7, 3122--3130 (2011; Zbl 1244.65030)]. In the article under consideration, the authors prove that the covering dimension of a finite space \(X\) is one less than the maximum of the branch widths of the minimal elements of the Kolmogorov quotient of \(X\), where the branch width of an element \(a\) of a poset \(P\) is defined as the number of maximal elements of \(P\) that are comparable to \(a\). Using this result, they prove that the covering dimension of a finite space \(X\) with \(\# X> 2\) is \(\# X -2\) if and only if the associated preordered set is a poset which has a minimum element and \(\# X -1\) maximal elements. In addition, the authors prove that for any finite space \(X\), the sum of the covering dimension of \(X\) and the small inductive dimension of \(X\) is at most \(\# X -1\). Finally, the authors give a characterization of the large inductive dimension of a finite space \(X\) as the maximum of the heights of a certain type of subposets of the preordered set associated to \(X\). They also prove that the large inductive dimension of a finite space \(X\) is at most \(\lfloor\frac{\#X -1}{2}\rfloor\) and characterize the finite spaces \(X\) whose large inductive dimension is \(\lfloor\frac{\#X -1}{2}\rfloor\). Reviewer's remark: In the references, the name of the first author of reference [Zbl 1191.05088] contains a typo.