Normal Hausdorff space

There are two alternative definitions of the term. Please see: Convention:Hausdorffness assumption

Definition

Equivalent definitions in tabular format

No.	Shorthand	A topological space is said to be normal Hausdorff if ...	A topological space $X$ is said to be normal Hausdorff if ...
1	separation of disjoint closed subsets by open subsets	all points in it are closed sets, and given any two disjoint closed subsets in the topological space, there are disjoint open sets containing them.	for all $x\in X$, the set $\{x\}$ is closed in $X$, and given any two closed subsets $A,B\subseteq X$ such that $A\cap B=\varnothing$, there exist disjoint open subsets $U,V$ of $X$ such that $A\subseteq U,B\subseteq V$, and $U\cap V=\varnothing$.
2	separation of disjoint closed subsets by continuous functions	all points in it are closed sets, and given any two disjoint closed subsets, there is a continuous function taking the value $0$ at one closed set and 1 at the other.	For all $x\in X$, the set $\{x\}$ is closed in $X$, and for any two closed subsets $A,B\subseteq X$, such that $A\cap B=\varnothing$, there exists a continuous map $f:X\to [0,1]$ (to the closed unit interval) such that $f(x)=0\ \forall x\in A$ and $f(x)=1\ \forall \ x\in B$.
3	point-finite open cover has shrinking	all points are closed, and every point-finite open cover possesses a shrinking.	for all $x\in X$, the set $\{x\}$ is closed in $X$, and for any point-finite open cover $U_{i},i\in I$ of $X$, there exists a shrinking $V_{i},i\in I$: the $V_{i}$ form an open cover and ${\overline {V_{i}}}\subseteq U_{i}$.
4	separation of finitely many disjoint closed subsets by open subsets	all points in it are closed sets, and given a finite collection of pairwise disjoint closed subsets in the topological space, there are pairwise disjoint open sets containing them.	for all $x\in X$, the set $\{x\}$ is closed in $X$, and given any finite collection of pairwise disjoint closed subsets $A_{1},A_{2},\dots ,A_{n}\subseteq X$, there exist pairwise disjoint open subsets $U_{1},U_{2},\dots ,U_{n}$ of $X$ such that $A_{i}\subseteq U_{i}$ for all $i$.

Note that in each of the definitions, the T1 space assumption (that points are closed) can be replaced by the (a priori stronger) Hausdorff space assumption, without changing the meaning of the overall definition.

Some people use the term normal space for what is called here a normal Hausdorff space; however, we define the term normal space as not having the T1 space assumption.

Equivalence of definitions

The direction (2) implies (1) is easy: if there is a continuous function $f:X\to [0,1]$ such that $A\subseteq f^{-1}(\{0\})$ and $B\subseteq f^{-1}(\{1\})$, then we can take the open sets $f^{-1}((0,1/2))$ and $f^{-1}((1/2,1))$.

The direction (1) implies (2) follows from Urysohn's lemma.

This article is about a basic definition in topology.
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View a complete list of basic definitions in topology

This article defines a property of topological space that is pivotal (viz important) among currently studied properties of topological spaces

In the T family (properties of topological spaces related to separation axioms), this is called: T4

Relation with other properties

This property is a pivotal (important) member of its property space. Its variations, opposites, and other properties related to it and defined using it are often studied

• View all variations of normality

Stronger properties

Property	Meaning	Proof of implication	Proof of strictness (reverse implication failure)	Intermediate notions
Compact Hausdorff space	a compact space that is also Hausdorff	compact Hausdorff implies normal	normal not implies compact	Binormal space, Paracompact Hausdorff space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Hereditarily normal space	every subspace is a normal space under the subspace topology		normality is not hereditary	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Paracompact Hausdorff space	a paracompact space that is also Hausdorff	paracompact Hausdorff implies normal	normal not implies paracompact	Binormal space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Regular Lindelof space	both a regular space and a Lindelof space	regular Lindelof implies normal	normal not implies Lindelof	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Perfectly normal space	every closed subset is a G-delta subset	perfectly normal implies normal	normal not implies perfectly normal	Hereditarily normal space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Metrizable space	can be given the structure of a metric space with the same topology	metrizable implies normal	normal not implies metrizable	Collectionwise normal space, Elastic space, Hereditarily collectionwise normal space, Hereditarily normal space, Monotonically normal space, Paracompact Hausdorff space, Perfectly normal space, Protometrizable space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
CW-space	the underlying topological space of a CW-complex	CW implies normal	normal not implies CW	Hereditarily normal space, Paracompact Hausdorff space, Perfectly normal space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Linearly orderable space	obtained using the order topology for some linear ordering	linearly orderable implies normal	normal not implies linearly orderable	Collectionwise normal space, Hereditarily collectionwise normal space, Hereditarily normal space, Monotonically normal space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Collectionwise normal space
Monotonically normal space

Weaker properties

Property	Meaning	Proof of implication	Proof of strictness (reverse implication failure)	Intermediate notions
Completely regular space (also called $T_{3.5}$)	continuous function taking 0 at point, 1 at disjoint closed set	normal implies completely regular	completely regular not implies normal	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Regular space (also called $T_{3}$)	open subsets separating point and disjoint closed subset	normal implies regular	regular not implies normal	Completely regular space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Hausdorff space	open subsets separating distinct points	(via regular)	(via regular)	Completely regular space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
T1 space	every point is closed	by definition	(via Hausdorff, regular)	Completely regular space|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
Kolmogorov space (also called $T_{0}$)	for any two points, open subset containing one and not the other	by definition		|FULL LIST, MORE INFO

Metaproperties

Metaproperty name	Satisfied?	Proof
product-closed property of topological spaces	No	normality is not product-closed
subspace-hereditary property of topological spaces	No	normality is not hereditary
weakly hereditary property of topological spaces	Yes	normality is weakly hereditary
refining-preserved property of topological spaces	No	normality is not refining-preserved

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Products

NO: This property of topological spaces is not a product-closed property of topological spaces: a product of topological spaces, each satisfying the property, when equipped with the product topology, does not necessarily satisfy the property.
View other properties that are not product-closed

A product of two normal spaces, endowed with the product topology, need not be normal. For full proof, refer: Normality is not product-closed

Hereditariness

This property of topological spaces is not hereditary on all subsets

It is possible to have a normal space $X$ and a subspace $Y$ of $X$ such that $Y$ is not a normal space. For full proof, refer: Normality is not hereditary

Further information: Complete regularity is hereditary, normal implies completely regular, metrizable implies hereditarily normal, CW implies hereditarily normal

Weak hereditariness

This property of topological spaces is weakly hereditary or closed subspace-closed; in other words, any closed subset (equipped with the subspace topology) of a space with the property, also has the property.
View all weakly hereditary properties of topological spaces | View all subspace-hereditary properties of topological spaces

Any subspace of a normal space need not be normal. However, any closed subset of a normal space is normal, under the subspace topology. Further information: Normality is weakly hereditary

Refining

NO: This property of topological spaces is not a refining-preserved property of topological spaces. In other words, putting a finer topology on a topological space satisfying this property might give a topological space not satisfying this property.
View other properties that are not refining-preserved

Moving to a finer topology, i.e., adding more open subsets, may destroy the property of normality. For full proof, refer: Normality is not refining-preserved

Further information: Hausdorffness is refining-preserved, T1 is refining-preserved, regularity is not refining-preserved, metrizability is not refining-preserved

Facts

• Any connected normal space having at least two points (and more generally, any connected Urysohn space having at least two points) is uncountable. For full proof, refer: connected Urysohn implies uncountable

Effect of property operators

The subspace operator

Applying the subspace operator to this property gives: completely regular space

A topological space can be realized as a subspace of a normal space iff it is completely regular. Necessity follows from the fact that normal spaces are completely regular, and any subspace of a completely regular space is completely regular. Sufficiency follows from the Stone-Cech compactification.

The hereditarily operator

Applying the hereditarily operator to this property gives: hereditarily normal space

A topological space in which every subspace is normal is termed hereditarily normal (some people call it completely normal). Note that metrizable spaces are hereditarily normal.

The locally operator

Applying the locally operator to this property gives: locally normal space

References

Textbook references

• Topology (2nd edition) by James R. Munkres^{More info}, Page 195,Chapter 4, Section 31 (formal definition, along with definition of regular space)
• Lecture Notes on Elementary Topology and Geometry (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) by I. M. Singer and J. A. Thorpe^{More info}, Page 28 (formal definition)

External links

Definition links

• Wikipedia page