General Topology – What Are the Epimorphisms in the Category of Hausdorff Spaces?

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It appears to be the case that the epimorphisms in $\text{Haus}$ are precisely the maps with dense image. This is claimed in various places, but a comment on my blog has made me doubt the source I got my proof from (Borceux).

Borceux's argument crucially uses the following result:

If $A \subset X$ is a closed subspace of a Hausdorff space $X$, then the quotient $X/A$ is Hausdorff.

This appears to be false. As far as I can tell, if $X/A$ is Hausdorff, then $A$ and points in $X$ not in $A$ must be separated by open neighborhoods in $X$. But if this is true for every closed subspace $A$ of $X$, then $X$ is necessarily regular, and there are examples of Hausdorff spaces that aren't regular.

So: is it still true that the epimorphisms are precisely the maps with dense image? If so, what is a correct proof of this?

Best Answer

Yes, according to Herrlich & Strecker, Section 6.10(4). Here’s the argument:

If $A\overset{f}\longrightarrow B$ is an epimorphism, let $C$ be the disjoint topological union of two ‘copies’ of $B$ where the corresponding points of the closure of $f[A]$ have been identified, and let $h$ and $k$ be the two natural maps from $B$ to $C$.

That’s as far as they actually write it out, but clearly the rest is that $h\circ f=k\circ f$, and $f$ is an epimorphism, so $h=k$, and $f[A]$ must therefore be dense in $B$.

Added: To see that $C$ is actually Hausdorff, let the copies of $B$ be $B_0=B\times\{0\}$ and $B_1=B\times\{1\}$, let $K=\operatorname{cl}f[A]$, and let $K_i=K\times\{i\}$ for $i\in\{0,1\}$. Finally, let $q:B_0\sqcup B_1\to C$ be the quotient map. Clearly $q(\langle x,i\rangle)$ and $q(\langle y,j\rangle)$ can be separated by disjoint open sets in $C$ whenever $x\ne y$, irrespective of $i$ and $j$. If $q(\langle x,0\rangle)\ne q(\langle x,1\rangle)$, then $x\in B\setminus K$, an open subset of $B$, so $q[B_0\setminus K_0]$ and $q[B_1\setminus K_1]$ are disjoint open nbhds of $q(\langle x,0\rangle)$ and $q(\langle x,1\rangle)$.

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