Reflecting topological properties in continuous images

Abstract

Abstract Given a topological property P, we study when it reflects in small continuous images, i.e., when for some infinite cardinal κ, a space X has P if and only if all its continuous images of weight less or equal to κ have P. We say that a cardinal invariant η reflects in continuous images of weight κ + if η(X) ≤ κ provided that η(Y) ≤ κ whenever Y is a continuous image of X of weight less or equal to κ +. We establish that, for any infinite cardinal κ, the spread, character, pseudocharacter and Souslin number reflect in continuous images of weight κ + for arbitrary Tychonoff spaces. We also show that the tightness reflects in continuous images of weight κ + for compact spaces. We present examples showing that separability, countable extent and normality do not reflect in continuous images of weight ω 1. Besides, under MA + ¬ CH, the Fréchet-Urysohn property does not reflect in continuous images of weight ω 1 even for compact spaces. An application of our techniques gives a solution of an open problem published by Ramírez-Páramo. If Jensen’s κ +-Axiom $$\left( {\diamondsuit _{\kappa ^ + } } \right)$$ holds for an infinite cardinal κ, then for an arbitrary space X with no G κ-points there exists a continuous surjective map f: X → Y such that w(Y) = κ + and Y has no G tk-points. We apply this result to solve a problem of Kalenda.