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Closure Operator
Closure Operator
Closure Operator
en.wikipedia.org
In mathematics, a closure operator on a set S is a function cl : P(S) P(S) from the power set of S to itself
which satises the following conditions for all sets X, Y S
Closure operators are determined by their closed sets, i.e., by the sets of the form cl(X), since the closure cl(X) of a
set X is the smallest closed set containing X. Such families of closed sets are sometimes called "Moore families",
in honor of E. H. Moore who studied closure operators in his 1910 Introduction to a form of general analysis, whereas
the concept of the closure of a subset originated in the work of Frigyes Riesz in connection with topological spaces.[1]
Closure operators are also called "hull operators", which prevents confusion with the closure operators studied in
topology. A set together with a closure operator on it is sometimes called a closure system.
1 Applications
Closure operators have many applications:
In topology, the closure operators are topological closure operators, which must satisfy
cl(X) = {cl(Y ) : Y X and Y nite } .
The topological closure of a subset X of a topological space consists of all points y of the space, such that every
neighbourhood of y contains a point of X. The function that associates to every subset X its closure is a topological
closure operator. Conversely, every topological closure operator on a set gives rise to a topological space whose closed
sets are exactly the closed sets with respect to the closure operator.
For topological closure operators the second closure axiom (being increasing) is redundant.
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2 5 CLOSED SETS
This continuity condition is on the basis of a xed point theorem for J. Consider the one-step operator J of a monotone
logic. This is the operator associating any set X of formulas with the set J(X) of formulas which are either logical
axioms or are obtained by an inference rule from formulas in X or are in X. Then such an operator is continuous and
we can dene cl(X) as the least xed point for J greater or equal to X. In accordance with such a point of view, Tarski,
Brown, Suszko and other authors proposed a general approach to logic based on closure operator theory. Also, such
an idea is proposed in programming logic (see Lloyd 1987) and in fuzzy logic (see Gerla 2000).
5 Closed sets
The closed sets with respect to a closure operator on S form a subset C of the power set P(S). Any intersection of
sets in C is again in C. In other words, C is a complete meet-subsemilattice of P(S). Conversely, if C P(S) is closed
under arbitrary intersections, then the function that associates to every subset X of S the smallest set Y C such that
X Y is a closure operator.
A closure operator on a set is topological if and only if the set of closed sets is closed under nite unions, i.e., C is a
meet-complete sublattice of P(S). Even for non-topological closure operators, C can be seen as having the structure
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of a lattice. (The join of two sets X,Y P(S) being cl(X Y).) But then C is not a sublattice of the lattice P(S).
Given a nitary closure operator on a set, the closures of nite sets are exactly the compact elements of the set C of
closed sets. It follows that C is an algebraic poset. Since C is also a lattice, it is often referred to as an algebraic lattice
in this context. Conversely, if C is an algebraic poset, then the closure operator is nitary.
More succinct alternatives are available: the denition above is equivalent to the single axiom
for all x, y in P.
Using the pointwise order on functions between posets, one may alternatively write the extensiveness property as idP
cl, where id is the identity function. A self-map k that that is increasing and idempotent, but satises the dual of
the extensiveness property, i.e. k idP is called a kernel operator,[2] interior operator,[3] or dual closure.[4] As
examples, if A is a subset of a set B, then the self-map on the powerset of B given by A(X) = A X is a closure
operator, whereas A(X) = A X is a kernel operator. The ceiling function from the real numbers to the real numbers,
which assigns to every real x the smallest integer not smaller than x, is another example of a closure operator.
A xpoint of the function cl, i.e. an element c of P that satises cl(c) = c, is called a closed element. A closure
operator on a partially ordered set is determined by its closed elements. If c is a closed element, then x c and cl(x)
c are equivalent conditions.
Every Galois connection (or residuated mapping) gives rise to a closure operator (as is explained in that article).
In fact, every closure operator arises in this way from a suitable Galois connection.[5] The Galois connection is not
uniquely determined by the closure operator. One Galois connection that gives rise to the closure operator cl can be
described as follows: if A is the set of closed elements with respect to cl, then cl: P A is the lower adjoint of a
Galois connection between P and A, with the upper adjoint being the embedding of A into P. Furthermore, every
lower adjoint of an embedding of some subset into P is a closure operator. Closure operators are lower adjoints of
embeddings. Note however that not every embedding has a lower adjoint.
Any partially ordered set P can be viewed as a category, with a single morphism from x to y if and only if x y.
The closure operators on the partially ordered set P are then nothing but the monads on the category P. Equivalently,
a closure operator can be viewed as an endofunctor on the category of partially ordered sets that has the additional
idempotent and extensive properties.
If P is a complete lattice, then a subset A of P is the set of closed elements for some closure operator on P if and only
if A is a Moore family on P, i.e. the largest element of P is in A, and the inmum (meet) of any non-empty subset of
A is again in A. Any such set A is itself a complete lattice with the order inherited from P (but the supremum (join)
operation might dier from that of P). When P is the powerset Boolean algebra of a set X, then a Moore family on
P is called a closure system on X.
The closure operators on P form themselves a complete lattice; the order on closure operators is dened by cl1 cl2
i cl1 (x) cl2 (x) for all x in P.
7 See also
ech closure operator
4 10 EXTERNAL LINKS
Galois connection
Interior algebra
Kuratowski closure axioms
8 Notes
[1] Blyth p.11
[2] Giertz, p. 26
[4] Blyth, p. 10
[5] Blyth, p. 10
9 References
Garrett Birkho. 1967 (1940). Lattice Theory, 3rd ed. American Mathematical Society.
Burris, Stanley N., and H.P. Sankappanavar (1981) A Course in Universal Algebra Springer-Verlag. ISBN
3-540-90578-2 Free online edition.
Brown, D.J. and Suszko, R. (1973) Abstract Logics, Dissertationes Mathematicae 102- 9-42.
Castellini, G. (2003) Categorical closure operators. Boston MA: Birkhaeuser.
Edelman, Paul H. (1980) Meet-distributive lattices and the anti-exchange closure, Algebra Universalis 10: 290-
299.
Gerla, G. (2000) Fuzzy Logic: Mathematical Tools for Approximate Reasoning. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Lloyd, J.W. (1987) Foundations of Logic Programming. Springer-Verlag.
Tarski, Alfred (1983) Fundamental concepts of the methodology of deductive sciences in Logic, Semantics,
Metamathematics. Hackett (1956 ed., Oxford University Press).
Alfred Tarski (1956) Logic, semantics and metamathematics. Oxford University Press.
Ward, Morgan (1942) The closure operators of a lattice, Annals of Mathematics 43: 191-96.
G. Gierz, K. H. Hofmann, K. Keimel, J. D. Lawson, M. Mislove, D. S. Scott: Continuous Lattices and Domains,
Cambridge University Press, 2003
T.S. Blyth, Lattices and Ordered Algebraic Structures, Springer, 2005, ISBN 1-85233-905-5.
M. Ern, J. Koslowski, A. Melton, G. E. Strecker, A primer on Galois connections, in: Proceedings of the 1991
Summer Conference on General Topology and Applications in Honor of Mary Ellen Rudin and Her Work,
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 704, 1993, pp. 103125. Available online in various le
formats: PS.GZ PS
10 External links
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Propositional Consequence Relations and Algebraic Logic" -- by Ra-
mon Jansana.
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