My proof that the Alexandroff double circle not second-countable

122 Views Asked by At

I'm hoping someone can comment on if my logic on the Alexandroff double cirlce not being second countable is right.

The Alexandroff double circle has underlying set $C = C_1 \cup C_2$ where $C_i = \{ z \in \mathbb{C} : |z| = i \}$ is the circle of radius $i$ centred at the origin in the complex plane. The basic open sets are

• $\{ z\}$ for every $z \in C_2$, and

• $U \cup \{ 2z : z \in U\} \setminus F$, where $U$ is open in the normal topology of $C_1$ (i.e., is a union of open arcs on $C_1$) and $F$ is a finite subset of $C_2$.


I believe this space is not second-countable for the following reason. For every element $z$ on the outer circle, the singleton set containing it is open. Thus if it had a countable basis, it would have to contain the set of all singleton sets $\{z\}$ on the outer circle. But that would make it uncountable.