Scott Function Spaces under One-Sided FS Assumptions: Counterexamples, Positive Results, and New Directions

Abstract

The class of FS-domains is known to be closed under Scott function spaces when both the source and target are FS-domains. This paper investigates what remains true under one-sided FS assumptions, with particular emphasis on the role of Plotkin's tie. We establish two complementary continuity theorems. First, whenever \(X\) is an FS-domain, the Scott function space \([X\to T]\) is a continuous dcpo. The proof introduces finite-layer truncation maps on Plotkin's tie, which generate directed families of way-below approximants below every Scott-continuous map. Secondly, whenever \(L\) is an FS-domain, the Scott function space \([T\to L]\) is again a continuous dcpo. Here the argument is based on finitely separating approximate identities, together with a finite-control analysis of the two-branch order structure of Plotkin's tie. These two approximation mechanisms are conceptually different but both produce the directed families of way-below approximants required for continuity. To determine the limits of these positive results, we consider the Lawson closed-disk domain. Although \(\Disk^{\top}\) is an FS-domain, the Scott function space \([\Disk^{\top}\to T]\) is shown to be continuous but not itself an FS-domain. This establishes that preservation of continuity is strictly weaker than preservation of the FS property. The paper concludes by identifying the boundaries of the present methods and proposing a unified approximation principle that may provide a general characterization of continuity for Scott function spaces.