Lemma 5.3.4. Let $(X, \fU)$ be a uniform space and $\bracsn{U_n}_{0}^{\infty} \subset \fU$ such that:

  1. $U_{0}= X \times X$.

  2. For each $n \in \natz$, $U_{n}$ is symmetric.

  3. For each $n \in \natz$, $U_{n + 1}\circ U_{n+1}\subset U_{n}$.

then there exists a pseudometric $d: X \times X \to [0, 1]$ such that

\[U_{n+1}\subset E(d, 2^{-n}) \subset U_{n-1}\]

for each $n \in \natp$.

Proof. Let

\[\rho: X \times X \to [0, 1] \quad (x, y) \mapsto \inf\bracs{2^{-n}| n \in \natz, (x, y) \in U_n}\]

and $d: X \times X \to [0, 1]$ by

\[d(x, y) = \inf\bracs{\sum_{j = 1}^n\rho(x_{j-1}, x_j) \bigg | \seqf{x_j} \subset X, x_0 = x, x_1 = y, n \in \natp}\]

then

  1. For any $x \in X$, $x \in \bigcap_{n \in \natp}U_{n}$. Thus $\rho(x, x) = 0$ and $d(x, x) \le \rho(x, x) = 0$.

  2. Let $x, y \in X$. By assumption (b), $\rho(x, y) = \rho(y, x)$. Thus $d(x, y) = d(y, x)$ as well.

  3. Let $x, y, z \in X$, then for any $\seqf{x_j}$ and $\seqf[m]{y_j}$ with $x_{0} = x$, $x_{n} = y = y_{0}$, and $y_{m} = z$,

    \[d(x, z) \le \sum_{j = 1}^{n} \rho(x_{j - 1}, x_{j}) + \sum_{j = 1}^{m} \rho(y_{j - 1}, y_{j})\]

    As this holds for all such $\seqf{x_j}$ and $\seqf[m]{y_j}$, $d(x, z) \le d(x, y) + d(y, z)$.

so $d$ is a pseudometric.

For any $(x, y) \in U_{n+1}$, $d(x, y) \le \rho(x, y) < 2^{-n}$, so $U_{n+1}\subset E(d, 2^{-n})$.

Let $x, y \in X$ with $d(x, y) < 2^{-n}$. If $\rho(x, y) < 2^{-n}$, then the claim holds directly. Assume inductively that for any $x, y \in X$ with $d(x, y) < 2^{-n}$, if there exists $\seqf[m]{x_j}\subset X$ such that $x_{0} = x$, $x_{m} = y$ and $\sum_{j = 1}^{m} \rho(x_{j - 1}, x_{j}) < 2^{-n}$, then $(x, y) \in U_{n - 1}$.

Let $x, y \in X$ and $\seqf[m+1]{x_j}\subset X$ such that $x_{0} = x$, $x_{m+1}= y$, and $\sum_{j = 1}^{m+1}\rho(x_{j - 1}, x_{j}) < 2^{-n}$. Let $1 \le k < m+1$ such that $\sum_{j = 1}^{k}\rho(x_{j - 1}, x_{j}) < 2^{-n-1}$ and $\sum_{j = 1}^{k+1}\rho(x_{j-1}, x_{j}) \ge 2^{-n-1}$, then $\sum_{j = k + 1}^{m+1}\rho(x_{j-1}, x_{j}) < 2^{-n-1}$ as well. By the inductive hypothesis, $(x, x_{k}), (x_{k+1}, y) \in U_{n+1}\subset U_{n}$. Given that $\rho(x_{k}, x_{k+1}) < 2^{-n}$, $(x_{k}, x_{k+1}) \in U_{n+1}$ too. Thus

\[(x, y) \in U_{n+1}\circ U_{n + 1}\circ U_{n + 1}\subset U_{n} \circ U_{n} \subset U_{n-1}\]
$\square$