What does it mean to be a connected component of a whole set

connectednessfunctionsgeneral-topology

I have the following question:

Suppose $p:Y\rightarrow X$ is a covering map with $X$ locally connected. Let $Y'$ be a connected component of $Y$. Show that the image $X'=p(Y')$ is a connected component of $X$ and the restriction $Y'\rightarrow X'$ is a covering.

I don't understand what a connected component of the whole set $Y$ is. So i know that the connected component of $p\in Y$ is the union of all connected subsets of $Y$ containing $p$ but how do we define a connected component of whole $Y$?

Thanks for your help.

Best Answer

A connected component of a space $Y$ is a maximal connected subspace $C \subset Y$. This means

  1. $C$ is connected
  2. If $C'$ is connected and $C \subset C'$, then $C = C'$.

As you say, the connected component of $p \in Y$ is the union of all connected subsets of $Y$ containing $p$, thus it is a connected component of $Y$ by definition.

Formally you can introduce an equivalence relation on $Y$ by $p \sim q$ if there exists a connected $C \subset Y$ containing both $p, q$. The only non-trivial part here is the transitivity of $\sim$. This follows from the fact that the union of connected subspaces having non-empty intersection is connected.

The equivalence classes with respect to $\sim$ are called connected components. It is easy to see that they are precisely the maximal connected subspaces as defined above. Clearly the equivalence class of a point $p \in Y$ is the union of all connected subsets of $Y$ containing $p$.