English

Normal Spaces via Urysohn's Lemma as a Lifting Property

General Topology 2026-02-13 v1

Abstract

We present a translation of Urysohn's description of normal spaces (as those where disjoint closed subsets are separated by a continuous function) into the language of lifting properties in Top\mathbf{Top}, correcting a frequently-cited previous erroneous translation. We also present a translation of the definition of hereditarily normal spaces as those in which every open subspace is normal, by directly 'mapping' the translation of the usual description of normal spaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.11178,
  title  = {Normal Spaces via Urysohn's Lemma as a Lifting Property},
  author = {Robert Maxton},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.11178},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

3 pages, 6 figures, formalization in Lean in terms of existing definitions in Mathlib at https://github.com/robertmaxton42/mathlib4/tree/separation