It is well known that the topology of metric spaces and topological notions in metric spaces are pretty much entirely determined by sequences. For example one has:
- The closure of a set is the same as the limit points of sequences in the set.
- A map whose domain is our space is continuous iff it is sequentially continuous.
- A subset is compact iff it is sequentially compact.
In first countable spaces or, more generally, sequential spaces the first two statements are still valid. The third is not necessarily true, for example the long ray is first countable and sequentially compact but certainly not compact.
In what kind of spaces is property 3 valid?
This question is a bit vague. For example property 1 is valid in sequential spaces, but the definition of sequential is exactly that property 1 holds. A prettier answer, if the question would have been about property 1, would be first countable spaces. The definition of first countable is not artificial in this context and covers a very large class of spaces.
If you have any further examples, it would be nice to know:
Are there other sequential notions that are equivalent to a topological notion in metric spaces but not necessarily equivalent in first countable spaces?
Best Answer
Second countability is enough. The following proof is adapted from the proof of Proposition 1.6.23 from the book Convergence Structures and Applications to Functional Analysis by R.Battie and H.-P Butzmann, a fantastic book on convergence spaces.
Theorem:If $X$ is a second countable topological space, then $X$ is compact if and only if $X$ is sequentially compact.