Discrete space

In the narrow sense, a space with the discrete topology.

In the broad sense, sometimes termed Alexandrov-discrete, a topological space in which intersections of arbitrary families of open sets are open. In the case of $T_1$-spaces, both definitions coincide. In this sense, the theory of discrete spaces is equivalent to the theory of partially ordered sets.

References

[1]	P.S. Aleksandrov, "Diskrete Räume" Mat. Sb. , 2 (1937) pp. 501–520 Zbl 0018.09105

Comments

The equivalence alluded to above is obtained as follows: If $P$ is a pre-ordered set (cf. Pre-order), then define $O_x = \{ y \in P : y \le x \}$ for $x \in P$. With the topology generated by the sets $O_x$, $P$ becomes a discrete space.

If $X$ is a discrete space, put $O_x = \cap \{ O : x \in O, \ O \text{open} \}$ for $x \in X$. Then $y \le x$ if and only if $y \in O_x$, defines a pre-order on $X$.

These constructions are each others inverses. Moreover, discrete $T_0$-spaces correspond to partial orders and "real" discrete spaces correspond to discrete orders.

This simple idea and variations thereof have proven to be extremely fruitful, see, e.g., [a1].

References

[a1]	G. Gierz, K.H. Hofmann, K. Keimel, J.D. Lawson, M.V. Mislove, D.S. Scott, "A compendium of continuous lattices" , Springer (1980)