nLab
point of a locale

A point of a locale X is a continuous map (in the sense of locales) to X from the abstract point (seen as a locale whose corresponding frame is the frame of truth values).

If X * is the frame that corresponds to X, then a point of X is the same as a frame homomorphism from X * to the frame of truth values. This is the same as a completely prime filter in X *.

A point of X is the same as a point (in the usual sense) of the topological space pt(X); that is, the underlying set of pt(X) is the set of points (in the sense above) of X. (Thus, we call pt(X) the space of points of X.) Conversely, if S is a topological space, then every point of S determines a point of the locale op(S) of opens of S. This map Spt(op(S)) (which is a continuous map of topological spaces) is injective iff S is T 0 (see separation axioms); it is a homeomorphism iff S is sober.

Revised on February 5, 2010 22:02:10 by Toby Bartels (173.60.119.197)