Free sequences (Q2640925)

Following the author, a sequence \(\{(F_{\alpha},G_{\alpha}):\alpha <\theta \}\) is said to be a \(\theta\)-free sequence of regular pairs of a space X if (i) for each \(\alpha <\theta\), \(F_{\alpha}\) is closed in X, \(G_{\alpha}\) is open in X and \(F_{\alpha}\subseteq G_{\alpha}\), (ii) for each \(\gamma <\theta\), the family \(\{F_{\alpha}:\alpha \leq \gamma \}\cup \{X-G_{\alpha}:\alpha >\gamma \}\) is centered. In any compact space, the existence of a \(\theta\)-free sequence of regular pairs is equivalent to the existence of a \(\theta\)-free sequence in the sense of \textit{Arkhangelskij}. Free sequences of regular pairs are shown to be very useful as a tool in proving a number of \textit{Shapirovskij}'s results.