Alexandrov topology


In topology, an Alexandrov topology is a topology in which the intersection of any family of open sets is open. It is an axiom of topology that the intersection of any finite family of open sets is open; in Alexandrov topologies the finite restriction is dropped.
A set together with an Alexandrov topology is known as an Alexandrov-discrete space or finitely generated space.
Alexandrov topologies are uniquely determined by their specialization preorders. Indeed, given any preorder ≤ on a set X, there is a unique Alexandrov topology on X for which the specialization preorder is ≤. The open sets are just the upper sets with respect to ≤. Thus, Alexandrov topologies on X are in one-to-one correspondence with preorders on X.
Alexandrov-discrete spaces are also called finitely generated spaces since their topology is uniquely determined by the family of all finite subspaces. Alexandrov-discrete spaces can thus be viewed as a generalization of finite topological spaces.
Due to the fact that inverse images commute with arbitrary unions and intersections, the property of being an Alexandrov-discrete space is preserved under quotients.
Alexandrov-discrete spaces are named after the Russian topologist Pavel Alexandrov. They should not be confused with the more geometrical Alexandrov spaces introduced by the Russian mathematician Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov.

Characterizations of Alexandrov topologies

Alexandrov topologies have numerous characterizations. Let X = <X, T> be a topological space. Then the following are equivalent:
Topological spaces satisfying the above equivalent characterizations are called finitely generated spaces or Alexandrov-discrete spaces and their topology T is called an Alexandrov topology.

Duality with preordered sets

The Alexandrov topology on a preordered set

Given a preordered set we can define an Alexandrov topology on X by choosing the open sets to be the upper sets:
We thus obtain a topological space.
The corresponding closed sets are the lower sets:

The specialization preorder on a topological space

Given a topological space X = <X, T> the specialization preorder on X is defined by:
We thus obtain a preordered set W = <X, ≤>.

Equivalence between preorders and Alexandrov topologies

For every preordered set X = <X, ≤> we always have W = X, i.e. the preorder of X is recovered from the topological space T as the specialization preorder.
Moreover for every Alexandrov-discrete space X, we have T = X, i.e. the Alexandrov topology of X is recovered as the topology induced by the specialization preorder.
However for a topological space in general we do not have T = X. Rather T will be the set X with a finer topology than that of X.

Equivalence between monotonicity and continuity

Given a monotone function
between two preordered sets ≤f, let
be the same map as f considered as a map between the corresponding Alexandrov spaces. Then T is a continuous map.
Conversely given a continuous map
between two topological spaces, let
be the same map as f considered as a map between the corresponding preordered sets. Then W is a monotone function.
Thus a map between two preordered sets is monotone if and only if it is a continuous map between the corresponding Alexandrov-discrete spaces. Conversely a map between two Alexandrov-discrete spaces is continuous if and only if it is a monotone function between the corresponding preordered sets.
Notice however that in the case of topologies other than the Alexandrov topology, we can have a map between two topological spaces that is not continuous but which is nevertheless still a monotone function between the corresponding preordered sets.

Category theoretic description of the duality

Let Set denote the category of sets and maps. Let Top denote the category of topological spaces and continuous maps; and let Pro denote the category of preordered sets and monotone functions. Then
are concrete functors over Set which are left and right adjoints respectively.
Let Alx denote the full subcategory of Top consisting of the Alexandrov-discrete spaces. Then the restrictions
are inverse concrete isomorphisms over Set.
Alx is in fact a bico-reflective subcategory of Top with bico-reflector T◦W : Top→Alx. This means that given a topological space X, the identity map
is continuous and for every continuous map
where Y is an Alexandrov-discrete space, the composition
is continuous.

Relationship to the construction of modal algebras from modal frames

Given a preordered set X, the interior operator and closure operator of T are given by:
for all S⊆ X.
Considering the interior operator and closure operator to be modal operators on the power set Boolean algebra of X, this construction is a special case of the construction of a modal algebra from a modal frame i.e. from a set with a single binary relation. The class of modal algebras that we obtain in the case of a preordered set is the class of interior algebras—the algebraic abstractions of topological spaces.

History

Alexandrov spaces were first introduced in 1937 by P. S. Alexandrov under the name discrete spaces, where he provided the characterizations in terms of sets and neighbourhoods. The name discrete spaces later came to be used for topological spaces in which every subset is open and the original concept lay forgotten in the topological literature. On the other hand, Alexandrov spaces played a relevant role in Oystein Ore pionering studies on closure systems and their relationships
with lattice theory and topology.
With the advancement of categorical topology in the 1980s, Alexandrov spaces were rediscovered when the concept of finite generation was applied to general topology and the name finitely generated spaces was adopted for them. Alexandrov spaces were also rediscovered around the same time in the context of topologies resulting from denotational semantics and domain theory in computer science.
In 1966 Michael C. McCord and A. K. Steiner each independently observed a duality between partially ordered sets and spaces which were precisely the T0 versions of the spaces that Alexandrov had introduced. P. Johnstone referred to such topologies as Alexandrov topologies. F. G. Arenas independently proposed this name for the general version of these topologies. McCord also showed that these spaces are weak homotopy equivalent to the order complex of the corresponding partially ordered set. Steiner demonstrated that the duality is a contravariant lattice isomorphism preserving arbitrary meets and joins as well as complementation.
It was also a well-known result in the field of modal logic that a duality exists between finite topological spaces and preorders on finite sets. A. Grzegorczyk observed that this extended to a duality between what he referred to as totally distributive spaces and preorders. C. Naturman observed that these spaces were the Alexandrov-discrete spaces and extended the result to a category-theoretic duality between the category of Alexandrov-discrete spaces and continuous maps, and the category of preorders and monotone maps, providing the preorder characterizations as well as the interior and closure algebraic characterizations.
A systematic investigation of these spaces from the point of view of general topology which had been neglected since the original paper by Alexandrov was taken up by F.G. Arenas.