Maximal countably compact spaces and embeddings in MP-spaces (Q2341944)

In this paper, the authors study the embeddings in maximal pseudocompact spaces and maximal countably compact spaces. A Tychonoff space \(X\) is called \textit{maximal pseudocompact} or MP-space if \(X\) is pseudocompact but any stronger Tychonoff topology on \(X\) fails to be pseudocompact. A Tychonoff countably compact space \(X\) is called \textit{maximal countably compact} or MCC-space if any stronger Tychonoff topology on \(X\) is not countably compact. It is proved that under Martin's Axiom and \(\neg CH\), every compact space of weight less than \(\mathfrak{c}\) is a retract of a compact MP-space. If there exists a measurable cardinal \(\lambda\), then the Tychonoff cube \(I^{\lambda}\) does not embed even in an MCC-space. The authors also consider Mazur spaces. A space \(X\) has the Mazur property (or is a Mazur space) if every sequentially continuous function \(f: X\rightarrow \mathbb R\) is continuous. It is shown that Mazur countably compact spaces are MCC-spaces and the Mazur property in \(C_{p}(K)\) implies that \(C_{p}(K)\) is Fréchet-Urysohn if \(K\) is an \(\omega\)-monolithic compact space. Finally, the authors pose some very interesting open problems for further study.