Topological embedding ($f:X\hookrightarrow Y$)

A continuous map injective map $f:X\to Y$ that is a homeomorphism onto its image with the subspace topology. A continuous map injective map from a compact space into a Hausdorff space is a topological embedding.

Continuous functions $X\to [0,1]$ on a normal Hausdorff space separate points and closed sets by Urysohn's lemma. The evaluation map into the product of their codomains is injective and continuous. For each point in an open set, a coordinate equal to one there and zero outside the open set detects a smaller coordinate neighborhood, proving the inverse topology.

A subset $Y\subseteq X$ is C-embedded if every continuous real-valued function on its subspace topology extends continuously to $X$. Closed subsets of normal spaces have this property by the Tietze extension theorem. The condition also makes sense for nonclosed subsets.

A subset is Cb-embedded if every bounded continuous real-valued function on it extends to a bounded continuous real-valued function on the ambient space. A bounded extension can be clipped to preserve the original bound. This is weaker than C-embeddedness: the natural numbers in their Stone-Čech compactification have the bounded extension property, but their unbounded identity function cannot extend to a compact space.

A family of maps with a common domain determines the displayed map into the Cartesian product of their codomains. It is injective exactly when the family separates points. For continuous coordinate maps it is continuous in the product topology. If inverse images of open sets under the coordinates generate the original topology, the inverse from the image is also continuous; thus the map is a topological embedding. A basis of such inverse images, as opposed to a subbasis, is a sufficient stronger hypothesis.

Every topological space, including one without the T0 space property, embeds into a power of this three-point space. For each open set $U$, use a coordinate equal to $2$ on $U$ and $0$ elsewhere. Its inverse image of the only proper nonempty open set is $U$. For each point $a$, add a coordinate equal to $1$ at $a$ and $0$ elsewhere. These coordinates are continuous because the subspace $\{0,1\}$ has the indiscrete topology, and they separate all points. The combined diagonal map is injective and induces precisely the original topology, hence is a topological embedding.