The (positive) unique structure theorem

Posted on December 21, 2023 by jgl

There is an amazing theorem in the theory of analytic spaces, called the unique structure theorem: any two countable families F1 and F2 of Borel subsets of an analytic space X that separate the points of X generate the same σ-algebra. F. Clerc, N. Fijalkow, B. Klin and P. Panangaden used a generalization of this in a 2019 paper about labelled Markov processes, which they call the positive unique structure theorem. It too, applies to any analytic space, and I will show that it even generalizes to a larger class of spaces, which I will call quasi-analytic; those are the continuous images of M. de Brecht’s quasi-Polish spaces (inside an arbitrary topological space, not necessarily Hausdorff or even T0). The treatment I will give is a mix of measure-theoretic and domain-theoretic techniques. Read the full post.

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Compact semilattices without small semilattices II: Gierz’s counterexample

Posted on November 20, 2023 by jgl

We pursue last month’s post, written with Zhenchao Lyu, and we describe Gierz’s example of a compact semilattice — namely, a compact Hausdorff topological semilattice — which does not have small semilattices. It is a bit simpler than Jimmie Lawson’s counterexample, which was already described on this blog. Read the full post.

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Compact semilattices without small semilattices I: interval homomorphisms, products, and the Hoare hyperspace

Posted on October 20, 2023 by jgl

I have already talked about compact semilattices before, but there is a lot more to say, especially on the subject of having small semilattices or not. Zhenchao Lyu is joining me this month, and we will pursue this next month. We start with Jimmie Lawson’s characterization of those compact semilattices that have small semilattices as being those that have enough interval homomorphisms. We will then exploit that and show that, once we know just one compact semilattice with small semilattices (for example, one given by J. Lawson himself), then we can produce a whole lot of them, using products or the Hoare hyperspace construction. Read the full post.

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Scott’s formula

Posted on September 20, 2023 by jgl

There is a well-known formula in domain theory, which, given a monotonic map f from a basis B of a continuous poset X to a dcpo Y, produces the largest continuous map f’ defined on the whole of X and below f on B. This is Scott’s formula: f’(x) ≝ supb ∈ B, b ≪ x f(b). Generalizing this to the setting where X is a c-space, I will explain when exactly f’ coincides with f on B, hence when f’ is a continuous extension of f. Also, using a motivation from the theory of continuous valuations, I will describe conditions under which any algebraic laws satisfied by f transfer to f’. Read the full post.

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The fundamental theorem of compact semilattices

Posted on August 20, 2023 by jgl

Bounded-complete domains, or bc-domains, are an amazingly rich kind of continuous domains. They form a Cartesian-closed category, and they are the densely injective topological spaces, among other properties. One characterization of bc-domains which I have not included in the book is that they are related in a very precise sense to Lawson semilattices, namely to compact semilattices with small semilattices. This is the fundamental theorem of compact semilattices, which I will (re)prove by relying a lot on the theory of compact pospaces and stably compact spaces: see the full post.

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Exponentiable locales II: the exponentiable locales are the continuous frames

Posted on July 20, 2023 by jgl

Two months ago, we have seen that every exponentiable locale had to be continuous, as a frame. We will see that the converse holds: the continuous frames are exactly the exponentiable locales. The result is due to Martin Hyland in 1979. Read the full post.

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The Banaschewski-Lawson-Ershov observation on separate vs. joint continuity

Posted on June 20, 2023 by jgl

Joint continuity is a stronger property than separate continuity. In what cases are those properties equivalent? The question was solved, partially, by Yuri Ershov in 1997, and completely by Bernhard Banaschewski in 1977 (apparently with a gap in the proof) and by Jimmie Lawson in 1985. The answer has to do with locally finitary compact spaces: read the full post.

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Exponentiable locales I: every exponentiable locale is continuous

Posted on May 21, 2023 by jgl

The exponentiable objects of Top are exactly the core-compact spaces. Through Stone duality, the core-compact spaces are related to the continuous frames. So here is a wild guess: would the exponentiable locales be exactly the continuous frames? That is indeed true, as was proved by Martin Hyland in 1979 (published in 1981). I will concentrate on one half of the this result for this time, and I will explain why every exponentiable locale must be a continuous dcpo. The proof is very close to the similar result in Top, but, as usual, locales are so much more abstract that similar arguments tend to be harder to understand in Loc; I will do my best. Read the full post.

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The Seminar on Continuity in Semilattices

Posted on May 15, 2023 by jgl

Recently, Achim Jung sent me a message from Jimmie Lawson, and suggested that I might be interested in posting the information on this blog. The red book [1] is a precious source of information on domain theory, and if you are interested in knowing how the material there came to be discovered, Continue reading →

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Topological Functors II: the Cartesian-closed category of C-maps

Posted on April 20, 2023 by jgl

Some time ago, I gave an introduction to topological functors. They form a pretty brilliant categorical generalization of topological spaces. The point of today’s post is to give one particular example of the fact that you can somehow generalize some results on topological spaces to topological functors. I will concentrate on showing that a (pretty amazing) construction of certain Cartesian-closed full subcategories of Top, due to Martín Escardó, Jimmie Lawson, and Alex Simpson, generalizes pretty smoothly to a pretty large class of topological functors—the so-called well-fibered topological constructs. More precisely, I will concentrate on the first part of this construction, which builds a Cartesian-closed category MapC out of a so-called strongly productive class C of objects of a category C that forms the domain of a topological construct with discrete terminal objects. Read the full post.

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