[Math] Topological space which is not locally connected

connectednessgeneral-topology

In class we defined a locally connected space as a space that has a basis consisting of connected sets. I don't quite understand what a space which is not locally connected would look like. At least one basis element in every basis would have to be disconnected, so the union of two non-empty non-intersecting open sets. That would give us another basis, which would have to contain a disconnected element, and so on. I can't think of a single example of a space that satisfies this. Have I misunderstood the definition? Is there a good, simple example of a space that is locally disconnected?

I have tried to understand the infinite broom as an example of a connected space that is not locally connected. I can see why it is connected, but I don't understand why it is not locally connected. Could someone help me understand why?

Best Answer

An example of such a space is $\Bbb Q$ with the relative topology. (I think) A general way to get such spaces easily is to consider a connected space and then consider a nice choice of dense subset and look at the relative topology. You could replace the rationals with the irrationals and it would also work.

I think another - more exotic - example is an irrational rotation set. Suppose $\theta\in(0,2\pi)$ is irrational, then let $S = \{e^{in\theta}:n\in\Bbb Z\}$. $S$ is dense in the unit circle but is not locally connected.

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