$\pi$-spaces and their open images

Abstract

We study spaces that can be mapped onto the Baire space (i.e. the countable power of the countable discrete space) by a continuous quasi-open bijection. We give a characterization of such spaces in terms of Souslin schemes and call these spaces $\pi$-spaces. We show that every space that has a Lusin $\pi$-base is a $\pi$-space and that every second-countable $\pi$-space has a Lusin $\pi$-base. The main result of this paper is a characterization of continuous open images of $\pi$-space.