The Priestley Separation Axiom for Scattered Spaces

Let R be a quasi-order on a compact Hausdorff topological space X. We prove that if X is scattered, then R satisfies the Priestley separation axiom if and only if R is closed in the product space X×X. Furthermore, if X is not scattered, then we show that there is a quasi-order on X that is closed in X×X but does not satisfy the Priestley separation axiom. As a result, we obtain a new characterization of scattered compact Hausdorff spaces.