The quotient topology on a quotient space is a final topology, with respect to a single surjective function, namely the quotient map. The disjoint union topology is the final topology with respect to the inclusion maps. The final topology is also the topology that every direct limit in the category of topological spaces is endowed with, and it is in the context of direct limits that the final topology often appears. A topology is coherent with some collection of subspaces if and only if it is the final topology induced by the natural inclusions.
The dual notion is the initial topology, which for a given family of functions from a set into topological spaces is the coarsest topology on that makes those functions continuous.
Given a set and an -indexed family of topological spaces with associated functions the final topology on induced by the family of functions is the finest topology on such that
Explicitly, the final topology may be described as follows:
a subset of is open in the final topology (that is, ) if and only if is open in for each .
The closed subsets have an analogous characterization:
a subset of is closed in the final topology if and only if is closed in for each .
The family of functions that induces the final topology on is usually a set of functions. But the same construction can be performed if is a proper class of functions, and the result is still well-defined in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory. In that case there is always a subfamily of with a set, such that the final topologies on induced by and by coincide. For more on this, see for example the discussion here.[4] As an example, a commonly used variant of the notion of compactly generated space is defined as the final topology with respect to a proper class of functions.[5]
The important special case where the family of maps consists of a single surjective map can be completely characterized using the notion of quotient map. A surjective function between topological spaces is a quotient map if and only if the topology on coincides with the final topology induced by the family . In particular: the quotient topology is the final topology on the quotient space induced by the quotient map.
The final topology on a set induced by a family of -valued maps can be viewed as a far reaching generalization of the quotient topology, where multiple maps may be used instead of just one and where these maps are not required to be surjections.
Given topological spaces , the disjoint union topology on the disjoint union is the final topology on the disjoint union induced by the natural injections.
Given a family of topologies on a fixed set the final topology on with respect to the identity maps as ranges over call it is the infimum (or meet) of these topologies in the lattice of topologies on That is, the final topology is equal to the intersection
Given a topological space and a family of subsets of each having the subspace topology, the final topology induced by all the inclusion maps of the into is finer than (or equal to) the original topology on The space is called coherent with the family of subspaces if the final topology coincides with the original topology In that case, a subset will be open in exactly when the intersection is open in for each (See the coherent topology article for more details on this notion and more examples.) As a particular case, one of the notions of compactly generated space can be characterized as a certain coherent topology.
Given functions from topological spaces to the set , the final topology on with respect to these functions satisfies the following property:
a function from to some space is continuous if and only if is continuous for each
Characteristic property of the final topology
This property characterizes the final topology in the sense that if a topology on satisfies the property above for all spaces and all functions , then the topology on is the final topology with respect to the
Suppose is a family of maps, and for every the topology on is the final topology induced by some family of maps valued in . Then the final topology on induced by is equal to the final topology on induced by the maps
As a consequence: if is the final topology on induced by the family and if is any surjective map valued in some topological space then is a quotient map if and only if has the final topology induced by the maps
By the universal property of the disjoint union topology we know that given any family of continuous maps there is a unique continuous map that is compatible with the natural injections. If the family of maps covers (i.e. each lies in the image of some ) then the map will be a quotient map if and only if has the final topology induced by the maps
Throughout, let be a family of -valued maps with each map being of the form and let denote the final topology on induced by The definition of the final topology guarantees that for every index the map is continuous.
For any subset the final topology on will be finer than (and possibly equal to) the topology ; that is, implies where set equality might hold even if is a proper subset of
If is any topology on such that and is continuous for every index then must be strictly coarser than (meaning that and this will be written ) and moreover, for any subset the topology will also be strictly coarser than the final topology that induces on (because ); that is,
Suppose that in addition, is an -indexed family of -valued maps whose domains are topological spaces If every is continuous then adding these maps to the family will not change the final topology on that is, Explicitly, this means that the final topology on induced by the "extended family" is equal to the final topology induced by the original family However, had there instead existed even just one map such that was not continuous, then the final topology on induced by the "extended family" would necessarily be strictly coarser than the final topology induced by that is, (see this footnote[note 1] for an explanation).
Final topology on the direct limit of finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces
Endow the set with the final topology induced by the family of all inclusion maps. With this topology, becomes a completeHausdorfflocally convexsequentialtopological vector space that is not a Fréchet–Urysohn space. The topology is strictly finer than the subspace topology induced on by where is endowed with its usual product topology. Endow the image with the final topology induced on it by the bijection that is, it is endowed with the Euclidean topology transferred to it from via This topology on is equal to the subspace topology induced on it by A subset is open (respectively, closed) in if and only if for every the set is an open (respectively, closed) subset of The topology is coherent with the family of subspaces This makes into an LB-space. Consequently, if and is a sequence in then in if and only if there exists some such that both and are contained in and in
Often, for every the inclusion map is used to identify with its image in explicitly, the elements and are identified together. Under this identification, becomes a direct limit of the direct system where for every the map is the inclusion map defined by where there are trailing zeros.
In the language of category theory, the final topology construction can be described as follows. Let be a functor from a discrete category to the category of topological spacesTop that selects the spaces for Let be the diagonal functor from Top to the functor categoryTopJ (this functor sends each space to the constant functor to ). The comma category is then the category of co-cones from i.e. objects in are pairs where is a family of continuous maps to If is the forgetful functor from Top to Set and Δ′ is the diagonal functor from Set to SetJ then the comma category is the category of all co-cones from The final topology construction can then be described as a functor from to This functor is left adjoint to the corresponding forgetful functor.
^By definition, the map not being continuous means that there exists at least one open set such that is not open in In contrast, by definition of the final topology the map must be continuous. So the reason why must be strictly coarser, rather than strictly finer, than is because the failure of the map to be continuous necessitates that one or more open subsets of must be "removed" in order for to become continuous. Thus is just but some open sets "removed" from
Brown, Ronald (June 2006). Topology and Groupoids. North Charleston: CreateSpace. ISBN1-4196-2722-8.
Willard, Stephen (1970). General Topology. Addison-Wesley Series in Mathematics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN9780201087079. Zbl0205.26601.. (Provides a short, general introduction in section 9 and Exercise 9H)