$PF$-well-filtered spaces

Abstract

This paper solves two open problems concerning the well-filteredness of topological spaces. The first, due to Shen, Xi and Zhao\cite{shen2023further}, asks whether a space must be open well-filtered whenever its upper space is so; the answer is negative; the Hofmann-Lawson space provides a counterexample. The second, posed by Li, Yuan and Zhao\cite{li2020unified}, inquires whether $PF$-well-filteredness and $PF$- sobriety are equivalent under the assumption of local compactness; we answer it in the affirmative. Subsequently, we give characterizations of $PF$-sobriety and $PF$-well-filteredness for $T_0$ spaces, respectively. On the basis of the characterizations, we obtain the following result: $PF$-sobriety and $PF$-well-filteredness coincide on the Rudin spaces, which extends the previously established equivalence for locally compact spaces, as every locally compact space is a Rudin space. Furthermore, we give a counterexample to show that for nonempty $T_0$ topological spaces $X$ and $Y$, if $Y$ is a $PF$-well-filtered ($PF$-sober) space, then the function space consisting of all continuous maps from $X$ to $Y$ equipped with the Isbell topology may not be a $PF$-well-filtered ($PF$-sober) space even when $X$ is a core-compact space. We also prove that if the function space comprising all continuous maps from nonempty $X$ to $Y$ endowed with the Isbell topology is $PF$-well-filtered ($PF$-sober), then $Y$ is also $PF$-well-filtered ($PF$-sober) even though $PF$-sobriety and $PF$-well-filteredness are not preserved under retracts. Finally, we show that the reflective hull of the category of $PF$-well-filtered ($PF$-sober) spaces with continuous maps in $TOP_0$ is $TOP_0$.