Defining a topology in terms of convergence

functional-analysisgeneral-topology

I am wondering how a topology can be defined on a set when all that is given is a sense of convergence.

An example is $C^\infty_c$, the space of infinitely differentiable functions with compact support. A sequence $\{u_i\}$ is said to converge to $u$ in $C_c^\infty$ if all the $u_i$'s are supported on a common compact set and
$$\|\partial^\alpha (u_i – u)\|_\infty \rightarrow 0$$
for all multiindices $\alpha$. I saw this definition on Folland's text on PDEs. He does not explicitly define $\|\cdot\|_\infty$ but I assume he means the infinity norm viewed as a maximum and that the above is to be interpreted uniformly. Now this notion of convergence somehow defines a topology on $C_c^\infty$, but this is not immediately clear to me. What do the open sets look like? Further, how would one discuss continuity using solely this notion of convergence? Alternatively, Folland says that $C_0^\infty$ is a Frechet space under the family of norms $\|\partial^\alpha u\|_\infty$ and we put the strict inductive limit topology on $C_0^\infty$, however I am unfamiliar with the strict inductive limit topology.

Note I took a look at this question Topology induced by a convergence notion but the explanation is still unclear to me.

Best Answer

A topology is defined by somehow specifying which sets are open. One way to do this is to specify which sets are closed instead, as a set is open if and only if its complement is closed.

Suppose you have some concept of convergence of sequences in your space. Presumably, this concept has the property that any subsequence of a convergent sequence is also convergent, and to the same limit. Otherwise, you don't have an adequate concept of convergence.

You can define a topology on your space by saying a set $C$ is closed if and only if it contains the limits of all convergent sequences contained in it. Clearly the empty set and entire space are closed under this definition. If $C$ and $D$ are closed, then any convergent sequence in $C \cup D$ must have an infinite subsequence in one of them. That subsequence converges, and its limit must be in the same space. But that is also the limit of the original sequence, which therefore must be within $C \cup D$. Thus $C\cup D$ is closed. And finally any intersection of closed sets is closed, because any convergent sequences in the intersection are also in each of the closed sets, therefore so is its limit.

So this does define a topology. But there is a caveat. From a topology, you can define the concept of convergence of sequences. But that concept may not match the original concept you had for convergence of sequences. All your original convergent sequences will continue to converge to the same limits under this topology. But it is possible they may converge to other limits as well (i.e., the topology need not be T1). And other sequences that were not convergent in your original concept may converge in the topological sense.

This is why convergence of sequences is not a preferred method for defining topologies.

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