EPIREFLECTIVE SUBCATEGORIES AND SEMICLOSURE OPERATORS

Abstract

Let C be a category of topological spaces and continuous functions which is full, hereditary and closed under homeomorphisms and products. If A is a subclass of C, let E(A) be the full subcategory of C whose objects are the subspaces in A. In this paper we characterize the epireflective subcategories of C containing A and contained in E(A) by introducing a “semiclosure” operator which is a generalization for the “idempotent semi-limit” operator introduced by S.S. Hong (see [5]) with respect to Top _o. In case A is extensive in C, so that E(A) = C, all the extensive subcategories of C containing A are thus characterized.