[Math] topology-cocountable space is not Hausdorff

general-topology

Let $T=\{ U\subseteq X:X\setminus U\textrm{ is countable}\}\cup \{\emptyset\}$

Then this is known as co-countable topology.

Clearly,real line with co-countable topology is not Hausdorff.

For: If T is Hausdorff there exist two disjoint open sets that seperate the any pair of points;say G and H.
Then $X\setminus (A \cap B)=X$.
So the LHS is countable, but RHS is uncountable, which is a contradiction.

Can I use the same argument to prove the result if X is the complex plane or the Euclidean space?

Best Answer

All that matters for topological properties of the co-countable topology is the cardinality of the underlying set. (It is very easy to show that if $X$ and $Y$ are co-countable topological spaces and $|X| = |Y|$, then $X \cong Y$.)

So, to answer your question: yes, you can use the same argument for these sets, since they all have the same cardinality as $\mathbb{R}$.

But, even more, if $X$ is any uncountable set, then your argument shows that the co-countable topology on $X$ is not Hausdorff (you never used anything particular about the cardinality of $\mathbb{R}$ in your argument, except that it is uncountable).

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