Monotone normality (Q5905646)

The bulk of this paper is devoted to a proof of the following remarkable theorem: Every open cover \(\mathcal U\) of a monotonically normal space \(X\) has a \(\sigma\)-disjoint open partial refinement \(\mathcal V\) such that \(X\backslash\bigcup{\mathcal V}\) is the union of a discrete family of stationary subsets of regular uncountable cardinals. This result has many consequences; we mention two: 1) Every monotonically normal space has the shrinking property and 2) a monotonically normal space is paracompact iff it does not contain a closed subspace homeomorphic to a stationary subset of a regular uncountable cardinal. Several new characterizations of paracompactness for monotonically normal spaces drop out.