The quasi-metrizability of hyperspaces (Q6049946)

The authors of this paper had previously, in [\textit{C. Liu} and \textit{F. Lin}, Bull. Malays. Math. Sci. Soc. (2) 45, No. 5, 1955--1974 (2022; Zbl 1504.54015)], conjectured a characterization for quasi-metrizability of the Vietoris hyperspace \((CL(X),\tau_V)\) of a topological space \(X\). That conjecture is disproved in this paper. When \(X\) is a Hausdorff (i.e., \(T_2\)) space, this paper provides (i) characterizations for quasi-metrizability of the Vietoris hyperspace \((CL(X),\tau_V)\), (ii) characterizations for metrizability of the Fell hyperspace \((CL(X),\tau_F)\), and (iii) characterizations for metrizability of the locally finite hyperspace \((CL(X),\tau_{\mathrm{locfin}})\). The main technical terms above can be described as follows. Let \(X\) be a set, \(d:X\times X\rightarrow[0,\infty)\) a map, and for any \(x\in X\), \(\varepsilon>0\) let \(B_\varepsilon(x)\) denote the set \(\{y\in X:d(x,y)<\varepsilon\}\) called the \textbf{\(\varepsilon\)-neighborhood} of \(x\) in \(X\) with respect to \(d\). We associate with \(d\) the topological space \((X,d)\) with topology generated by (the subbase of) sets of the form \(B_\varepsilon(x)\subset X\) (i.e., open sets in \((X,d)\) are unions of finite intersections of \(\varepsilon\)-neighborhoods). We call \(d\) a \textbf{metric} on \(X\) (and \((X,d)\) a \textbf{metric space}) if for any \(x,y,z\in X\), (i) \(d(x,y)=0\) \(\iff\) \(x=y\), (ii) \(d(x,y)=d(y,x)\), and (iii) \(d(x,y)\leq d(x,z)+d(z,x)\). We call \(d\) a \textbf{quasi-symmetric} on \(X\) (and \((X,d)\) a \textbf{quasi-symmetric space}) if (i) and (iii) above hold. A space \((X,\tau)\) is \textbf{metrizable} (respectively, \textbf{quasi-metrizable}) if there is a metric (respectively, a quasi-metric) \(d\) on \(X\) such that \((X,\tau)=(X,d)\). Let \(X\) be a space, \(\mathcal{P}(X)\) the powerset of \(X\), and \(CL(X)\) the family of nonempty closed subsets of \(X\). A family of subsets \(\mathcal{F}\subset\mathcal{P}(X)\) is \textbf{locally finite} if every point \(x\in X\) lies in an open set that meets (i.e., intersects) at most finitely many members of \(\mathcal{F}\). For any nonempty collection \(\mathcal{U}\subset\mathcal{P}(X)\) let \(\mathcal{U}^-:=\{A\in CL(X):A\cap U\neq\emptyset~\textrm{for all}~U\in\mathcal{U}\}\) consist of all members of \(CL(X)\) that each meet every member of \(\mathcal{U}\), and let \(\mathcal{U}^+:=\{A\in CL(X):A\subset\bigcup\mathcal{U}\}\) consist of all members of \(CL(X)\) that are each covered by (i.e., lie in the union of) members of \(\mathcal{U}\). The \textbf{Vietoris topology} \(\tau_V\) on \(CL(X)\) is the topology generated by sets of the form \(\{U\}^-\) and \(\{V\}^+\) for open sets \(U,V\subset X\). The \textbf{Fell topology} \(\tau_F\) on \(CL(X)\) is the topology generated by sets of the form \(\{U\}^-\) and \(\{W\}^+=\{K^c\}\) for \textit{nonempty} open sets \(U,W\subset X\) with \(K=W^c\) \textit{compact}. The \textbf{locally finite topology} \(\tau_{\mathrm{locfin}}\) on \(CL(X)\) is the topology generated by sets of the form \(\mathcal{U}^-\) and \(\{V\}^+\) for \textbf{locally finite} families of (\textit{nonempty}) open sets \(\mathcal{U}\subset\mathcal{P}(X)\) and open sets \(V\subset X\). \textbf{Alternative title:} On quasi-metrizability of hyperspaces of \(T_2\)-spaces