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A topological space is connected if it is not the union of two disjoint nonempty open sets, or equivalently has no nontrivial subset that is both an open set and a closed set.

Let $K_x$ be the union of all connected subspaces containing $x$. A union of connected subsets with a common point is connected: if a separation of a topological space existed, every member containing $x$ would lie wholly in the same side. Hence $K_x$ is connected and contains every connected subspace through $x$, so it is the connected component of $x$.

If $K_x\cap K_y\ne \varnothing$, their union is connected and maximality gives $K_x=K_y$. Otherwise they are disjoint. Since every $x$ belongs to $K_x$, the connected components partition $X$.

A topological space is connected when it is not the union of two disjoint nonempty open subsets. It is path-connected when every two points $x,y$ can be joined by a path, meaning a continuous map $\gamma :[0,1]\to X$ with $\gamma (0)=x$ and $\gamma (1)=y$.

To prove that $[0,1]$ is connected, suppose it had a separation $[0,1]=U\cup V$ with $0\in U$. LetWhichever of $U$ or $V$ contains $c$, its relative openness supplies an interval about $c$ that contradicts either the definition of the supremum or the fact that all points immediately below $c$ lie in $U$. Thus no separation exists.

If $X$ is path-connected and $X=U\cup V$ were a separation, choose $u\in U$ and $v\in V$. A path from $u$ to $v$ would make $[0,1]$ the union of the disjoint nonempty open sets ${\gamma }^{-1}(U)$ and ${\gamma }^{-1}(V)$, contradicting the connectedness just proved. Hence

Now let $X\subseteq {\mathbb{R}}^n$ be open. Every point $x\in X$ lies in an open ball contained in $X$, and an open ball is path-connected by straight line segments. It follows that every path component of $X$ is open. If there were more than one path component, one component and the union of all the others would separate $X$. Consequently a connected open subset of Euclidean space is path-connected. The converse follows from the preceding implication.

The same argument answers the locally Euclidean question affirmatively. Every point has a neighbourhood homeomorphic to an open subset of ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, hence a path-connected open neighbourhood after restricting to a sufficiently small ball. Thus $X$ is locally path-connected, its path components are open, and connectedness forces there to be only one.

For the final example, putThe set $Y$ is path-connected: each vertical segment $C_n$ meets the horizontal segment $A$. The segment $B$ is also path-connected and lies in the closure of $Y$, because $(1/n,y)\to (0,y)$ for every $y\in [1/2,1]$. A connected set together with a connected subset of its closure is connected, so

It is not path-connected. The image of the first coordinate of any path in $X$ lies inbut, while the path has positive height, its first coordinate lies in the totally disconnected set $\{0\}\cup \{1/n:n\ge 1\}$. A path beginning on $B$ cannot leave $x=0$ before reaching height zero, and $X$ contains no point $(0,y)$ with $0\le y<1/2$. Hence no path joins $B$ to $Y$, and

A compact space is a topological space in which every open cover has a finite subcover. A Hausdorff space is one in which every two distinct points have disjoint open neighbourhoods. A homeomorphism is a bijection that is continuous and whose inverse is continuous.

For an equivalence relation $R$ on $X$, let $X/R$ be the set of equivalence classes and letThe quotient topology declares $U\subseteq X/R$ open exactly when $q^{-1}(U)$ is open in $X$. It follows directly from the definition that $q$ is continuous.

Suppose that the continuous map $f:X\to Y$ is constant on equivalence classes. The only possible factorisation iswhich is well-defined by the hypothesis and satisfies $F\circ q=f$. For every open $V\subseteq Y$,is open in $X$. The definition of the quotient topology therefore makes $F^{-1}(V)$ open, so $F$ is continuous. This proves the universal property of the quotient topology.

Let $L$ be any distributive lattice. Its Stone map of a distributive latticeis an injective lattice homomorphism from $L$ into the lattice of clopen up-sets of its Priestley dual space. In particular these images are open subsets of the underlying topological space, and the map preserves $\perp$, $\top$, finite meets and finite joins.

Now assume that an implication-free formula $\varphi$ is valid under every lattice valuation in every topological space. Given any valuation of its variables in any distributive lattice $L$, compose it with the Stone map. Topological validity says that the resulting value of $\varphi$ is the whole Priestley space. Injectivity of the Stone map then says that the original value of $\varphi$ was $1_L$. Hence $\varphi$ is valid in every distributive lattice.

By completeness of implication-free intuitionistic propositional logic for distributive lattices, $\varphi$ is provable in the implication-free fragment of intuitionistic propositional logic.

A regular category has finite limits, regular-epimorphism--monomorphism image factorizations, and regular epimorphisms stable under pullback. A relation $A⇝B$ in $\mathbf{Rel}(\mathcal{C})$ is a subobject of $A\times B$; composition forms the pullback over the middle object and then takes its image.

Suppose $R:A⇝B$ has a right adjoint relation $S$, so $1_A\le SR$ and $RS\le 1_B$. In the internal regular logic, the first inequality says that for every $a$ there is a $b$ with $R(a,b)$ and $S(b,a)$. If also $R(a,b^{\prime })$, the second inequality forces $b=b^{\prime }$. Thus $R$ is total and single-valued. Categorically, if $R\hookrightarrow A\times B$ has projections $p:R\to A$ and $q:R\to B$, totality makes $p$ a regular epimorphism and single-valuedness makes it a monomorphism. Hence $p$ is an isomorphism and $R$ is the graph of a morphism as a relation $q{p}^{-1}:A\to B$. Conversely, the graph of any morphism is left adjoint to its converse relation, as the two required inequalities follow directly from equality. This proves the characterization.

Let $L$ be a frame. Composition in the category of matrices valued in a frame isIf $f⊣g$, the diagonal part of $1_A\le gf$ impliesso every row of $f$ joins to $1$. For $b\ne b^{\prime }$, distribute $f(a,b)\wedge f(a,b^{\prime })$ over the displayed join. Every term vanishes by $fg\le 1_B$, first using the factor with column $b$ and then the one with column $b^{\prime }$. HenceConversely, if the rows of $f$ join to $1$ and have pairwise disjoint entries, define $g(b,a)=f(a,b)$. Thenwhile $(fg)(b,b^{\prime })=0$ for $b\ne b^{\prime }$. Thus $1_A\le gf$ and $fg\le 1_B$, proving the stated criterion.

Finally take $L=\Omega (X)$ for a connected topological space $X$. For fixed $a$, the opens $f(a,b)$ are pairwise disjoint and cover $X$. Connectedness forces exactly one of them to be $X$ and all the others to be empty. Hence a left adjoint matrix determines a unique function $\phi :A\to B$ by $f(a,\phi (a))=X$. Conversely every function gives this matrix, and matrix composition agrees with function composition. The left adjoints in $\mathbf{Mat}(\Omega (X))$ therefore form a category isomorphic to $\mathbf{Set}$.

A Polish space is a topological space whose topology can be induced by a complete separable metric. The completeness requirement concerns some compatible metric; it need not hold for every metric inducing the topology. Euclidean spaces are examples.

A presheaf of sets on a topological space $X$ is a contravariant functor from the inclusion-ordered category $\mathcal{O}(X)$ of open subsets to $\mathbf{Set}$. Its maps $F(U)\to F(V)$ for $V\subseteq U$ are restriction maps.

A quotient topological space identifies points of a topological space according to an equivalence relation and equips the set of equivalence classes with the quotient topology. A subset is open exactly when its inverse image under the canonical quotient map is open. Even a Hausdorff space can have a non-Hausdorff quotient; identifying real numbers differing by a rational number gives a multi-point quotient with the indiscrete topology.

For open subsets $U,V$ of a topological space $Y$, the relative cup product givesCompatibility with the maps to absolute cohomology identifies its image with the ordinary cup product. More generally the construction requires an excisive pair of subsets. The open-set case can be proved using subdivision to compute on chains subordinate to the open cover.

A retraction of a topological space $X$ onto a subspace $A$ is a continuous map $r:X\to A$ whose restriction to $A$ is the identity.

A ringed space $(X,{\mathcal{O}}_X)$ is a topological space $X$ equipped with a sheaf of rings ${\mathcal{O}}_X$. A morphism consists of a continuous map $f:X\to Y$ and a compatible morphism $f^{-1}{\mathcal{O}}_Y\to {\mathcal{O}}_X$.

A second-countable topological space has a countable collection of open sets such that every open set is a union of members of that collection. A space covered by countably many open manifold charts is second countable because each coordinate domain has a countable basis of rational balls.

A topological space is separable when it has a countable dense subset. The topology is part of the assertion: a dual may be separable in its weak-star topology and not in its norm topology. A compact metric space is separable by taking the union of finite nets at scales tending to zero.

A separation axiom is a condition on a topological space expressing how points or closed subsets can be distinguished by open sets. The Kolmogorov space condition distinguishes distinct points by some open set; the T1 space condition makes every point closed; the stronger Hausdorff space condition gives disjoint neighbourhoods to distinct points.

A sequentially closed set is one that contains every limit of its convergent sequences. This is weaker than being a closed set in a general topological space, but the two conditions agree in metric spaces.

A topological embedding $\gamma :S^1\to X$ of a circle into a topological space. On an oriented surface, an essential such curve is noncontractible; on a punctured surface, nonperipheral means that it does not surround only one puncture.

For a topological space $X$ and abelian group $A$, singular cohomology is the cohomology of the cochain complex $C^n(X;A)=\mathrm{Hom}(C_n(X;\mathbb{Z}),A)$, where $C_n$ is the singular chain group. Its differential is dual to the singular boundary. This theory has relative cohomology, long exact sequences and the Excision theorem. On spaces that are not locally contractible it can differ from Čech cohomology.

Singular homology forms a chain complex from formal sums of continuous maps from standard simplices into a topological space. Its homology groups are invariant under homotopy.

For a probability measure on a topological space, its support consists of the points whose every open neighborhood has positive probability. For a continuous effort distribution supported on an interval, every open subinterval of that interval has positive probability.

A topological space is T1 when every point is a closed point. Equivalently, for distinct $x,y$ there is an open set containing $x$ but not $y$, and an open set containing $y$ but not $x$. These open sets need not be disjoint. Every Hausdorff space is T1, but an infinite set with its cofinite topology is T1 without being Hausdorff.