Profinite topology on the integers is not compact

ID: profinite-topology-on-the-integers-is-not-compact

The profinite topology on has basis the residue classes , . These classes are both open and closed, since their complements are finite unions of other residue classes. Set for . Then and every is nonempty. An integer in their intersection would make divisible by every , forcing , impossible. Thus the open complements form an increasing cover with no finite subcover. The topology is Hausdorff because distinct integers are distinct modulo a sufficiently large integer, but is not compact.

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