On products of \(F\)-compact spaces (Q721365)

Let \(X\) and \(Y\) be topological spaces, \(A\subset X\), and \(\alpha\), \(\beta\) and \(\gamma\) be ordinals. Let \(H\) be Alexandroff's ``double arrow'' space. A surjective map \(f:X\rightarrow Y\) is called \textit{fully closed} if for every \(y\in Y\) and every finite open cover \(O_1,\ldots,O_k\) of \(f^{-1}(y)\), the set \(\bigcup^k_{i=1}f^\sharp(O_i)\cup\{y\}\) is a neighborhood of \(y\), where \(f^\sharp(A)=\{y\in Y:f^{-1}(y)\subset A\}\). A Hausdorff compact space \(X\) is called an \textit{\(F\)-compactum} if it is the inverse limit of a well-ordered continuous inverse system \(S = \{X_\alpha,\pi^\alpha_\beta:\alpha,\beta\in\gamma\}\) such that \(X_0\) is a point, all neighboring projections \(\pi^{\alpha+1}_\alpha\), where \(\alpha+1\in\gamma\), are fully closed, and the inverse images of \((\pi^{\alpha+1}_\alpha)^{-1}(x)\) are metrizable for every \(x\in X_\alpha\). An inverse system \(S\) satisfying these conditions is called an \textit{\(F\)-system}. The \textit{spectral height} of an \(F\)-compactum \(X\) is the minimal length of an \(F\)-system \(S\) whose limit is \(X\). We also recall that the \textit{Helly compactum} is the space of nondecreasing continuous functions \(f:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]\) with the topology of pointwise convergence. The main result in this paper (Theorem 1) is that \(H^2\) is not an \(F\)-compactum of countable spectral height. It follows from this result that the Helly compactum is not an \(F\)-compactum of countable spectral height (Theorem 2). This gives negative answers to questions posed by \textit{S. Watson} [in: Recent progress in general topology. Papers from the Prague Toposym 1991, held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Aug. 19-23, 1991. Amsterdam: North-Holland. 673--757 (1992; Zbl 0803.54001)] and Gul'ko.