The Collins-Roscoe property and its applications in the theory of function spaces (Q408557)

A space \(X\) has the Collins-Roscoe property if one can assign to each \(x\in X\) a family \(\mathcal G(x)\) of subsets of \(X\) so that for every \(A\subset X\), the family \(\{\mathcal G(a): a\in A\}\) contains an external network of \(\overline{A}\). A space \(X\) is monotonically monolithic if one can assign to each \(A\subset X\) an external network \(\mathcal O(A)\) of \(\overline{A}\) in \(X\) so that (a) \(|\mathcal O(A)|\leq |A|+\omega\); (b) \(A\subset B \Rightarrow \mathcal O(A)\subset \mathcal O(B)\); (c) if \(\{A_{\alpha}: \alpha<\lambda\}\) is an increasing collection of subsets of \(X\), then \(\mathcal O(\bigcup_{\alpha<\lambda} A_{\alpha})=\bigcup_{\alpha<\lambda} \mathcal O(A_{\alpha})\). If \(X\) has the Collins-Roscoe property, then \(X\) is monotonically monolithic, so it was asked by G. Gruenhage whether these properties coincide; moreover, since \(C_p(X)\) is monotonically monolithic if \(X\) is a Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-space, it was also asked whether \(C_p(X)\) has the Collins-Roscoe property, if \(X\) is a Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-space. The author gives an negative answer to both of these questions by proving that if \(D\) is an uncountable discrete space, then \(C_p(\beta(D))\) does not have the Collins-Roscoe property, even though it is monotonically monolithic. It is also shown that if \(X\) is a Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-space with \(nw(X)\leq \omega_1\), then \(C_p(X)\) has the Collins-Roscoe property, hence \(C_p(X)\) is metalindelöf, which is a generalization of an analogous theorem of Dow, Junnila and Pelant proved for compact \(X\). A related result shows that if both \(X\) and \(C_p(X)\) are Lindelöf \(\Sigma\)-spaces, then the iterated function space \(C_{p,n}(X)\) has the Collins-Roscoe property for each \(n<\omega\). Other properties of spaces with the Collins-Roscoe property are established, then the paper closes with ten open problems concerning these spaces.