§ Finite topologies and DFS numbering


In this great math overflow question on How to think about non hausdorff topologies in the finite case , there's an answer that encourages us to think of them as preorders, which are basically graphs. I wanted to understand this perspective, as well as connect it to DFS numbers, since they provide a nice way to embed these topologies into R\mathbb R.

§ Closure axioms of topology

We can axiomatize a topology using the kurotawski closure axioms. We need an idempotent monotonic function c:2X2Xc: 2^X \rightarrow 2^X which satisfies some technical conditions. Formally:
  1. c()=)c(\emptyset) = \emptyset) [ cc is a strict function: it takes bottoms to bottoms ]
  2. Ac(A)A \subseteq c(A). [monotonicity ]
  3. cc is idempotent: c(c(A))=c(A)c(c(A)) = c(A). [idempotence ]
  4. for all A,BA, B in XX, c(AB)=c(A)c(B)c(A \cup B) = c(A) \cup c(B).

Under this, a set is closed if it is a fixed point of cc: That is, a set AA is closed iff c(A)=Ac(A) = A.

§ Slight weakening into Single axiom version


Interestingly, this also gives a single axiom version of topological axioms, something that maybe useful for machine learning. The single axiom is that for all A,BXA, B \subseteq X, Ac(A)c(C(B))c(AB)A \cup c(A) \cup c(C(B)) \subseteq c(A \cup B). This does not provide that c()=c(\emptyset) = \emptyset, but it does provide the other axioms [2-4 ].

§ Continuous functions


A function is continuous iff f(c(A))c(f(A))f(c(A)) \subseteq c'(f(A)) for every AXA \in X.
TODO: give examples of why this works, and why we need ()(\subseteq) and not just (eq)(eq).

§ Finite topologies as preorders

We draw an arrow xyx \rightarrow y iff xClosure(y)x \in Closure(y). Alternatively stated, draw an arrow iff Closure(x)Closure(y)Closure(x) \subseteq Closure(y). That is, we have an injection from the closure of xx into the closure of yy, and the arrow represents the injection. Alternatively, we can think of this as ordering the elements xx by "information". A point xx has less information than point yy if its closure has fewer points.

§ T0 in terms of closure:


§ T1 in terms of closure:


§ Haussdorf (T2) in terms of closure


§ Relationship between DFS and closure when the topology is T0T0


If the topology is T0T0, then we know that the relation will be a poset, and hence the graph will be a DAG. Thus, whenever we have xyx \rightarrow y, we will get

§ DFS: the T0 case

§ DFS: the back edges