A survey of Kolmogorov quotients

Abstract

Every topological space has a Kolmogorov quotient that is obtained by identifying topologically indistinguishable points, that is, points that are contained in exactly the same open sets. In this survey, we look at the relationship between topological spaces and their Kolmogorov quotients. In most natural examples of spaces, the Kolmogorov quotient is homeomorphic to the original space. A non-trivial relationship occurs, for example, in the case of pseudometric spaces, where the Kolmogorov quotient is a metric space. We also look at the topological indistinguishability relation in the context of topological groups and uniform spaces.