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Compact Metric Space

Yongheng Zhang When we say a metric space X is compact, usually we mean any open covering of X has a nite subcovering. If we have a collection of open sets which covers X , no matter whether it is a covering of a subcovering, the collection of the complement of each open set has an empty intersection by De Morgens law and vice versa. So another formulation of compactness is that any collection of closed subsets of X with an empty intersection has a nite subcollection also with an empty intersection. Furthermore, taking the contrapositive we have an equivalent dention of compactness: for any collection C of closed subsets of X , if every nite subcollection of C has nonempty intersection, then the intersection of the sets in C is nonempty. We say a collection of sets of X has the nite intersection property if every nite subcollection of X has nonempty intersetion. So a concise version of the previous statement is A space X is compact if and only if every collection of closed subsets of X with the nite intersection property has nonempty intersection. Equipped with the above statement, we will nd a ne connection between compactness and the Bolzano-Weierstrass property. Recall that when we say a space X has the Bolzano-Weierstrass property, we mean any sequence in X has a cluster point (Is the cluster point in X ?). In fact, compactness implies the Bolzano-Weierstrass property. To see why, let < xn > be a sequence in a compact space X . Then we consider the collection of closed sets A = {Ak } k=1 where Ak = {xn }n=k . Why is Ak X ? Clearly A has the nite intersection property. Because X is compact, we know that k=1 Ak is nonempty. Let x be in the intersection. Let Ox be an open set containing x. For any N , x AN = {xN , xN +1 , . . .}. So there is n N such that xn Ox . This precisely says that x is a cluster point of < xn >. Recall that a space X is called sequentially compact if every sequence in it has a convergent subsequence. It can be readily checked that sequential compactness is the same as having the BolzanoWeierstrass property (In the backward direction, we construct a subsequence converging to the cluster point). Now assume only that X is sequentially compact. Let f C (X ). We will see that f assumes its minimum (and maximum) and use it to show the existence of Lebesgue number of a compact metric space. Let m = inf xX {f (x)}. By successively shrinking > 0 in the dention of inmum, we obtain a sequence < xn > in X such that limn f (xn ) = m. Since X is sequentially compact, < xn > has a subsequence < xnk > converging to some point x X . Because f is continuous, we have f (x) = limk f (xnk ). Thus, m = f (x), as desired. Similarly the maximum is achieved. Given an open covering U of a metric space X , if there is a number > 0 such that for any 0 < < and x X , there is O U such that the open ball B (x) is contained in O, then we say that is the Lebesgue number of the open covering U . In fact, if a space X is sequentially compact, then its Lebesgue number exists. Now we prove this. Let U be an open covering of sequentially compact X . If X U , then ... On the other hand, suppose X / U . Dene a function f by f (x) = sup{r : there is O U such that Br (x)
1

O}. Obviously, f > 0. (But why f < ?) Notice that for Thus, f is continuous. By sequential compactness, f assumes > 0 such that inf xX f (x) = > 0. Therefore, for any < B (x) O. So is the Lebesgue number. (if we increase uniform containment.)

any x, y X , f (y ) f (x) (x, y ). its minimum, i.e., there is x X and and x X , there is O U such that , then we can not guarantee the

A metric space X is called totally bounded if for any > 0 it can be covered by a nite number of open balls with radius . One of its key words is niteness, so it is closely related to compactness. Later we will use it to show that being sequentially compact implies compactness. But rst, we prove that a sequentially compact space is totally bounded. We prove the contrapositive. Suppose X is not totally bounded, i.e., there is > 0 such that for any nite collection of points {x1 , . . . , xN } in X , there is a point x X such that (xn , x) for all n = 1, . . . , N . Given this > 0, there is x1 X such that there is x2 X such that (x2 , x1 ) . Then, there is x3 X such that (x3 , xn ) for n = 1, 2. Inductively, there is xN +1 X such that (xN +1 , xn ) for all n = 1, . . . , N . Hence, we have a sequence < xn > such that any two terms in them are at a distance at least . Therefore, it is impossible for < xn > to have a convergent subsequence. Given the existence of the Lebesgue number and the property of totally bounded of a sequentially compact space, we show that the space is compact. To see this, let U be an open covering of compact X ; let > 0 be the Lebesgue number and let 0 < < . Because X is totally bounded, there is a nite collection of points {x1 , . . . , xN } in X such that {B (xn )}N n=1 covers X . But each B (xn ) is in some open set Oxn U . Consequently, the nite collection {Oxn }N n=1 covers X and we are done.

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