Best way to typeset “T_n-space”

Question

In topology, one often talks about spaces satisfying various separation conditions such as T₀-spaces. When I have to type “T₀-space” in LaTeX, I write
T$_0$-space

but I think using the mathematical mode this way is bit of a hack. I suppose I could also write
$text{T}_0$-space

but this doesn't feel like what text{} is supposed to be used for either.
My question is: what would be a completely hack-free way of typesetting this?

Mico · Accepted Answer

I suggest you (a) load the amsmath package for its nobreakdash macro and (b) define a macro called Tsp (you're free to come up with a different name...) as follows:
newcommand{Tsp}[1][0]{$mathrm{T}_{!#1}$nobreakdash-space}

The Tsp macro is set up to take one, optional argument, whose default value is 0. Note that if this macro is to be used in math mode, it should be encased in a text directive. The nobreakdash macro forbids line breaks at the - ("dash") symbol, as I assume it's not ok to allow a linebreak between T_0 and space.

Observe that a "negative thinspace" kern is inserted between mathrm{T} and its subscript argument. If that places the symbols too close to each other, consider replacing ! with mkern-2mu. (! is equivalent to mkern-3mu.)
documentclass{article}
usepackage{amsmath}
newcommand{Tsp}[1][0]{$mathrm{T}_{!#1}$nobreakdash-space}
begin{document}
Tsp, Tsp[1], Tsp[n]

$dotsctext{ Tsp[2] }dotsc$
end{document}

Best way to typeset “T_n-space”

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