The $C_p$-stable closure of the class of separable metrizable spaces

Abstract: Denote by $\mathbf C_p[\mathfrak M_0]$ the $C_p$-stable closure of the class $\mathfrak M_0$ of all separable metrizable spaces, i.e., $\mathbf C_p[\mathfrak M_0]$ is the smallest class of topological spaces that contains $\mathfrak M_0$ and is closed under taking subspaces, homeomorphic images, countable topological sums, countable Tychonoff products, and function spaces $C_p(X,Y)$. Using a recent deep result of Chernikov and Shelah (2014), we prove that $\mathbf C_p[\mathfrak M_0]$ coincides with the class of all Tychonoff spaces of cardinality strictly less than $\beth_{\omega_1}$. Being motivated by the theory of Generalized Metric Spaces, we characterize also other natural $C_p$-type stable closures of the class $\mathfrak M_0$.