Can't understand a detail in paracompactness->normality

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a detail in the proof of a theorem regarding the relationship between paracompactness and normality in topological spaces. Participants explore the implications of paracompactness in the context of Hausdorff spaces, particularly focusing on the construction of open covers and refinements.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why the set U, defined as the union of certain sets from a locally finite refinement, contains the closed set K.
  • Another participant suggests re-evaluating the definition of U to clarify whether K is included in the sets W from the refinement B.
  • A later reply indicates a realization that paracompactness does not necessarily imply that the refinement covers X, but references a differing interpretation from Munkres that suggests it does cover X, leading to the conclusion that U should cover K.
  • Subsequently, a participant retracts their earlier statement, asserting that since B is a cover, every point y in K must belong to some set W in B, confirming that W intersects K, thus supporting that y is in U.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants exhibit some confusion regarding the implications of paracompactness and the definitions involved, leading to differing interpretations of whether U covers K. The discussion reflects a lack of consensus on the details of the proof and the definitions being used.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved assumptions regarding the definitions of paracompactness and the nature of the open covers and refinements involved in the discussion. The relationship between the definitions provided by Willard and Munkres is also not fully clarified.

kostas230
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I seem to have stuck an obvious(?) detail in the proof of this theorem. We first show that a Hausdorff paracompact space is regular. Let X be a Hausdorff paracompact space, K be a closed subset of X, and x\in X-K. Since X is Hausdorff there exists an open cover \{ V_y: \; y\in K \} such that y\in V_yand x \in X-\overline{V}_y. Let B be a locally finite refinement of the collection \{ V_y: \; y\in K \}\cup\{X-K\} and U = \cup \{W\in B: \; K\cap W\neq \emptyset\}. What I cannot understand is why U contains K.
 
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Re-read the definition of ## U ## - is ## K ## one of those sets ## W \in B##?
 
I think get it now. Willard states that a topological space X is paracomact iff any cover of X has an open locally finite refinement. It does not necessarilly implies that it covers X. Munkres however states that this refinement does cover X, so U should cover K.
 
Yeah forget what I said, that was silly. The point is that any ## y\in K ## is in some ## W\in B ## since ## B ## is a cover. Obviously for that ##W, y\in W\cap K## so ##W\cap K \neq \emptyset##, hence ##y \in U##
 

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