\(H\)-closed extensions with countable remainder. (Q2898338)

Given a topological space \(X\), a set \(U\subset X\) is regular open if \(U=\text{Int}(\overline U)\). The family \(RO(X)\) of all regular open subsets of \(X\) forms a base for a topology \(\tau _s\subset \tau (X)\); the space \((X,\tau _s)\) is denoted by \(X_s\). A (not necessarily continuous) map \(f\: X\to Y\) is called perfect if \(f(F)\) is closed in \(Y\) for any closed set \(F\subset X\) and \(f^{-1}(y)\) is a compact subset of \(X\) for every \(y\in Y\). The map \(f\) is irreducible if \(f(X)=Y\) and \(f(F)\neq Y\) for any closed set \(F\subset X\) with \(F\neq X\). Furthermore, the map \(f\) is \(\theta \)-continuous if, for any point \(x\in X\) and any \(V\in \tau (Y)\) with \(f(x)\in V\), there exists a set \(U\in \tau (X)\) such that \(x\in U\) and \(f(\text{cl}_X(U)) \subset \text{cl}_Y(V)\). The Iliadis absolute of a Hausdorff space \(X\) is a pair \((EX,k_X)\), where \(EX\) is an extremally disconnected zero-dimensional Hausdorff space and \(k_X\: EX\to X\) is a perfect irreducible \(\theta \)-continuous map. A Hausdorff space \(X\) is \(H\)-closed if \(X\) is closed in any Hausdorff space in which \(X\) is embedded. A space \(Y\) is an extension of a space \(X\) if \(X\subset Y =\overline {X}\); the set \(Y\setminus X\) is called the remainder of \(X\) in \(Y\). A space \(X\) is Katetov if it has a weaker \(H\)-closed topology. A sequence \(\{ \mathcal {U}_n\: n\in \omega \}\) of open covers of a space \(X\) is called a Čech \(g\)-sequence if \(\bigcap \{\overline {A}\: A\in \xi \}\neq \emptyset \) for every open filter base \(\xi \) in \(X\) such that for each \(n\in \omega \) we can find a set \(A\in \xi \) and \(U\in \mathcal {U}_n\) with \(A\subset U\). Say that \(X\in T_2\) is a Čech \(g\)-space if there exists a Čech \(g\)-sequence in \(X\). It is established that \(X\) is a Čech \(g\)-space if and only if \(EX\) is Čech-complete. The following statement is the main result of the paper.NEWLINENEWLINETheorem: For a countable space \(X\) the following conditions are equivalent:NEWLINENEWLINE(1) \(X\) has an \(H\)-closed extension with a countable remainder;NEWLINENEWLINE(2) \(X\) is Katetov and \(X_s\) is first countable;NEWLINENEWLINE(3) \(X\) is a Čech \(g\)-space.