\(C\)-scattered type and minimal compactifications with countable remainder (Q891253)

Readers of the article are expected to assume that ZFC is the set-theoretic assumption here. All spaces under consideration are assumed to be completely regular and Hausdorff. A compactification \(Z\) of a space \(X\) is called a minimal compactification of \(X\) if, for every compactification \(Y\) of \(X\) such that \(Y\leq Z\), the remainders \(Y\setminus X\) and \(Z\setminus X\) are homeomorphic. A space \(S\) is called a minimal space if every perfect image of \(S\) is homeomorphic to \(S\). Of course, if the remainder of a compactification is a minimal space, then the compactification is minimal. For a space \(X\), the symbol \(R(X)\) denotes the set of all points of \(X\) which do not have compact neighbourhoods in \(X\). As usual, \(R^{0}(X)=X\) and, for an ordinal number \(\alpha\), \(R^{\alpha+1}(X)=R(R^{\alpha}(X))\), while \(R^{\alpha}(X)=\bigcap_{\gamma<\alpha}R^{\gamma}(X)\) if \(\alpha\) is a limit ordinal. A space \(X\) is called \(C\)-scattered if there exists an ordinal \(\alpha\) such that \(R^{\alpha}(X)=\emptyset\). If \(X\) is non-empty and \(C\)-scattered, then the \(C\)-scattered level of \(X\) is the first ordinal number \(\alpha\) such that \(R^{\alpha}(X)\) is locally compact. If \(X\) is a non-empty \(C\)-scattered space of \(C\)-level \(\alpha\), then \(X\) is of \(C\)-type \((\alpha, 0)\) when \(R^{\alpha}(X)=\emptyset\), \(X\) is of \(C\)-type \((\alpha, 1)\) when \(R^{\alpha}(X)\) is compact and non-empty, and of \(C\)-type \((\alpha, 2)\) when \(R^{\alpha}(X)\) is non-compact and locally compact. For each countable ordinal \(\alpha\), a special \(C\)-scattered countable subpace \(N_{\alpha}\) of the unit interval is described. Among other facts, it is shown that the spaces \(N_{\alpha}\), \(N_{\alpha}\setminus\{0\}\) and \(N_{\alpha}\oplus(N_{\alpha}\setminus\{0\})\) are all minimal. To give necessary and sufficient conditions for a \(C\)-scattered separable metrizable space to be homeomorphic either to \(N_{\alpha}\) or to \(N_{\alpha+1}\setminus\{0\}\), or to the direct sum of \(N_{\alpha}\) and \(N_{\alpha}\setminus\{0\}\), the author introduces and investigates notions of pointed, weakly pointed, locally pointed and locally weakly pointed spaces. Assuming that \(X\) is a non-empty rim-compact, Čech-complete space such that \(R(X)\) is both separable and metrizable, while \(R^{\omega}(X)=\emptyset\), the author proves that, for every compactification \(Z\) of \(X\) such that \(\text{ind}(Z\setminus X)=0\), there exists a minimal compactification \(Y\) of \(X\) such that \(Y\leq Z\) and, moreover, for \(n<\omega\), if the \(C\)-type of \(X\) is \((n+1,1)\), then the remainder \(Y\setminus X\) is homeomorphic to the direct sum of countably many copies of \(N_{n}\); if the \(C\)-type of \(X\) is \((n, 2)\), then \(Y\setminus X\) is homeomorphic to \(N_n\); if \(X\) is of \(C\)-type \((\omega,0)\), then \(Y\setminus X\) is homeomorphic to \(N_{\omega}\). Finally, by applying the spaces \(N_{\alpha}\) with \(\alpha\leq\omega\), interesting examples of rim-compact, Čech-complete spaces of \(C\)-type \((\omega, 1)\) and their minimal compactifications are given.