On Expanding Locally Finite Collections

Abstract

A space X is in-expandable, where m is an infinite cardinal, if for every locally finite collection {Hα| α ∈ A} of subsets of X with |A| ≦ m(cardinality of A ≦ m) there exists a locally finite collection of open subsets {Gα| α ∈ A} such that Hα ⊆ Gα for every α ∈ A. X is expandable if it is m-expandable for every cardinal m. The notion of expandability is closely related to that of collection wise normality introduced by Bing [1], X is collectionwise normal if for every discrete collection of subsets {Hα|α ∈ A} there is a discrete collection of open subsets {Gα|α ∈ A} such that Hα ⊆ Gα for every α ∈ A. Expandable spaces share many of the properties possessed by collectionwise normal spaces. For example, an expandable developable space is metrizable and an expandable metacompact space is paracompact.