Topological sums and products in \textbf{ZF}-set theory (Q2390502)

The authors show that while ordinary Zermelo-Fränkel set theory (\textbf{ZF}) is enough to define products (Tychonoff products) and coproducts (disjoint unions) in the category \textbf{Top} of topological spaces and continuous maps, it is the Axiom of Choice (\textbf{AC}) that makes these basic operations abstract. To make this statement more precise, suppose \(\mathcal{C}\) is a class of topological spaces, closed under homeomorphic copies. \(\mathbf{Prod}(\mathcal{C})\) (resp., \(\mathbf{Sum}(\mathcal{C})\)) is the assertion that whenever \(\langle X_i:i\in I\rangle\) and \(\langle Y_i:i\in I\rangle\) are indexed families of spaces from \(\mathcal{C}\) such that each \(X_i\) is homeomorphic to its corresponding \(Y_i\), then the respective products (resp., coproducts) are homeomorphic. The following are the main results of the paper, all proved in \textbf{ZF}: {\parindent6mm \begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \textbf{AC} is equivalent to \(\mathbf{Prod}(\mathcal{C})\), where \(\mathcal{C}\) is any of the following classes of spaces: discrete, metrizable, uniformizable, compact Hausdorff. \item[(2)] \textbf{AC}, restricted to countable families, is equivalent to \(\mathbf{Prod}\), restricted to countable families of compact Hausdorff spaces. \item[(3)] \textbf{AC} is equivalent to \(\mathbf{Sum}(\mathcal{C})\), where \(\mathcal{C}\) is either the class of metrizable spaces or the class of compact Hausdorff spaces. \end{itemize}}