Reversible filters (Q529085)

Let \(\omega\) denote the set of all non-negative integers with the discrete topology, let \(\beta\omega\) be the Čech-Stone compactification of \(\omega\) and \(\omega^*=\beta\omega\setminus\omega\). For a filter \(\mathcal{F}\subset\mathcal{P}(\omega)\), let \(\xi(\mathcal{F})=\omega\cup\{\mathcal{F}\}\) be the topological space in which every point of \(\omega\) is isolated and all neighborhoods of \(\mathcal{F}\) are of the form \(\{\mathcal{F}\}\cup F\), where \(F\in\mathcal{F}\). Let also \(K_\mathcal{F}=\{p\in\beta\omega:\mathcal{F}\subset p\}\). A topological space \(X\) is called \textit{reversible} if every continuous bijection from \(X\) to \(X\) is a homeomorphism, see [\textit{M. Rajagopalan} and \textit{A. Wilansky}, J. Aust. Math. Soc. 6, 129--138 (1966; Zbl 0151.29602)]. In this paper the authors introduce and study \textit{reversible filters}: a filter \(\mathcal{F}\subset\mathcal{P}(\omega)\) is reversible if the topological space \(\xi(\mathcal{F})\) is reversible. Among other results, the authors prove the following: Theorem 3.2. For every compact space \(X\) embeddable in \(\beta\omega\), there exists a reversible filter \(\mathcal{F}\) such that \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(K_\mathcal{F}\). Theorem 3.5. For every compact, extremally disconnected space \(X\) embeddable in \(\beta\omega\), there exists a non-reversible filter \(\mathcal{F}\) such that \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(K_\mathcal{F}\). Theorem 4.1. If \(X\) is a compact, extremally disconnected space that can be embedded in \(\omega^*\) as a weak \(P\)-set and \(X\) has a proper clopen subspace homeomorphic to \(X\), then there is a non-reversible filter \(\mathcal{F}\) such that \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(K_\mathcal{F}\) and \(K_\mathcal{F}\) is a weak \(P\)-set of \(\omega^*\). Theorem 4.2. There exists a compact, extremally disconnected space \(X\) that can be embedded in \(\omega^*\) as a weak \(P\)-set and such that if \(\mathcal{F}\) is a filter for which \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(K_\mathcal{F}\) and \(K_\mathcal{F}\) is a weak \(P\)-set, then \(\mathcal{F}\) is reversible. Theorem 4.4. If \(X\) is a compact, extremally disconnected space that is a continuous image of \(\omega^*\), then there exists a reversible filter \(\mathcal{F}\) such that \(X\) is homeomorphic to \(K_\mathcal{F}\) and \(K_\mathcal{F}\) is a weak \(P\)-set of \(\omega^*\). In the last section of their paper the authors use Martin's axiom to improve some of the above results by constructing filters \(\mathcal{F}\) such that \(K_\mathcal{F}\) is a \(P\)-set.