We prove that two countable locally finite-by-abelian groups G,H endowed with proper left-invariant metrics are coarsely equivalent if and only if their asymptotic dimensions coincide and the groups are either both finitely-generated or both are infinitely generated. On the other hand, we show that each countable group G that coarsely embeds into a countable abelian group is locally nilpotent-by-finite. Moreover, the group G is locally abelian-by-finite if and only if G is undistorted in the sense that G can be written as the union of countably many finitely generated subgroups G_n such that each G_n is undistorted in G_{n+1} (which means that the identity inclusion from G_n to G_{n+1} is a quasi-isometric embedding with respect to word metrics).
We classify up to coarse equivalence all countable abelian groups of finite torsion free rank. The Q-cohomological dimension and the torsion free rank are the two invariants that give us such classification. We also prove that any countable abelian group of finite torsion free rank is coarsely equivalent to Z^n + H where H is a direct sum (possibly infinite) of cyclic groups. A partial generalization to countable abelian groups of the Gromov rigidity theorem for abelian groups is shown.
We compute the asymptotic dimension of the rationals given with an invariant proper metric. Also, we show that a countable torsion abelian group taken with an invariant proper metric has asymptotic dimension zero.
We show that there is a countable universal abelian p-group for purity, i.e., a countable abelian p-group $U$ such that every countable abelian p-group purely embeds in $U$. This is the last result needed to provide a complete solution to Problem 5.1 of [Fuc15] below $\aleph_ω$. We introduce $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous p-groups, show that there is a universal abelian p-group for purity which is $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous, and completely characterize the countable $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous p-groups.
We study groups that can be defined as Polish, pro-countable groups, as non-archimedean groups with an invariant metric or as quasi-countable groups, i.e., closed subdirect products of countable, discrete groups, endowed with the product topology. We show, among other results, that for every non-locally compact, abelian quasi-countable group G there exists a closed subgroup L of G, and a closed, non-locally compact subgroup K of G/L which is a direct product of discrete, countable groups. As an application we prove that for every abelian Polish group G of the form H/L, where H,L are closed sub…
For any countable torsion subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, any unbounded torsion countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. If $G$ is a bounded torsion countably infinite Abelian group, then it admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. In such a case, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
We study topological groups that can be defined as Polish, pro-countable abelian groups, as non-archimedean abelian groups or as quasi-countable abelian groups, i.e., Polish subdirect products of countable, discrete groups, endowed with the product topology. We characterize tame groups in this class, i.e., groups such that all orbit equivalence relations induced by their continuous actions on Polish spaces are Borel, and relatively tame groups $G$, i.e., groups such that every diagonal action $α\times β$ of $G$ induces a Borel orbit equivalence relation, provided that the actions $α$, $β$ of $…
For any countable subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, we obtain the positive answer to Comfort's question: any unbounded countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. A bounded infinite Abelian group admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. If, in addition, $G$ is countably infinite, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
It is shown that each pseudonorm defined on a subgroup $H$ of an abelian group $G$ can be extended to a pseudonorm on $G$ such that the densities of the obtained pseudometrizable topological groups coincide. We derive from this that any Hausdorff $ω$-bounded group topology on $H$ can be extended to a Hausdorff $ω$-bounded group topology on $G$. In its turn this result implies that each separable metrizable abelian group $H$ is a subgroup of a separable metrizable divisible group $G$. This result essentially relies on the Axiom of Choice and is not true under the Axiom of Determinacy (which con…
We classify the locally compact second-countable (l.c.s.c.) groups $A$ that are abelian and topologically characteristically simple. All such groups $A$ occur as the monolith of some soluble l.c.s.c. group $G$ of derived length at most $3$; with known exceptions (specifically, when $A$ is $\mathbb{Q}^n$ or its dual for some $n \in \mathbb{N}$), we can take $G$ to be compactly generated. This amounts to a classification of the possible isomorphism types of abelian chief factors of l.c.s.c. groups, which is of particular interest for the theory of compactly generated locally compact groups.
We prove that every group ring of a non-abelian locally free group which is the union of an ascending sequence of free groups is primitive. In particular, every group ring of a countable non-abelian locally free group is primitive. In addition, by making use of the result, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for group rings of ascending HNN extensions of free groups to be primitive, which extends the known result for the countable case to the general cardinality case. In order to prove the main theorem, we state some graph-theoretic results and apply them to to Formanek's method.
We prove that if a countable group is elementarily equivalent to a non-abelian free group and all of its abelian subgroups are cyclic, then the group is a union of a chain of regular NTQ groups (i.e., hyperbolic towers).
In 1981/82, Hickin \& Plotkin and McKenzie both proved that a finite group has only countably many non-isomorphic subdirect powers if and only if it is abelian. In this paper, we prove that a finite commutative semigroup has only countably many non-isomorphic countable subdirect powers if and only if it is either a finite abelian group or a null semigroup.
We establish in this paper a new form of Plünnecke-type inequalities for ergodic probability measure-preserving actions of any countable abelian group. Using a correspondence principle for product sets, this allows us to deduce lower bounds on the upper and lower Banach densities of any product set in terms of the upper Banach density of an iterated product set of one of its addends. These bounds are new already in the case of the integers. We also introduce the notion of an ergodic basis, which is parallel, but significantly weaker than the analogous notion of an additive basis, and deduce Pl…
For a countable abelian group $G$ we investigate generic properties of the space of all invariant metrics on $G$. We prove that for every such an unbounded group $G$, i.e. group which has elements of arbitrarily high order, there is a dense set of invariant metrics on $G$ which make $G$ isometric to the rational Urysohn space, and a comeager set of invariant metrics such that the completion is isometric to the Urysohn space. This generalizes results of Cameron and Vershik, Niemiec, and the author. Then we prove that for every $G$ such that $G\cong \bigoplus_\mathbb{N} G$ there is a comeager se…
A space $X$ is of countable type (resp. subcountable type) if every compact subspace $F$ of $X$ is contained in a compact subspace $K$ that is of countable character (resp. countable pseudocharacter) in $X$. In this paper, we mainly show that: (1) For a functionally Hausdorff space $X$, the free paratopological group $FP(X)$ and the free abelian paratopological group $AP(X)$ are of countable type if and only if $X$ is discrete; (2) For a functionally Hausdorff space $X$, if the free abelian paratopological group $AP(X)$ is of subcountable type then $X$ has countable pseudocharacter. Moreover, …
In this paper we classify countable locally finite-by-abelian groups up to coarse isomorphism. This classification is derived from a coarse classification of amenable shift-homogeneous metric spaces.
This article is concerned with measure equivalence and uniform measure equivalence of locally compact, second countable groups. We show that two unimodular, locally compact, second countable groups are measure equivalent if and only if they admit free, ergodic, probability measure preserving actions whose cross section equivalence relations are stably orbit equivalent. Using this we prove that in the presence of amenability any two such groups are measure equivalent and that both amenability and property (T) are preserved under measure equivalence, extending results of Connes-Feldman-Weiss and…
We develop a coarse notion of bundle and use it to understand the coarse geometry of group extensions and, more generally, groups acting on proper metric spaces. The results are particularly sharp for groups acting on (locally finite) trees with Abelian stabilizers, which we are able to classify completely.
We carry out the Cantor-Bendixson analysis of the space of all subgroups of any countable abelian group and we deduce a complete classification of such spaces up to homeomorphism.
We provide a proof that the vanishing of $\ell^2$-Betti numbers of unimodular locally compact second countable groups is an invariant of coarse equivalence.
A group homomorphism $i: H \to G$ is a localization of $H$ if for every homomorphism $φ: H\rightarrow G$ there exists a unique endomorphism $ψ: G\rightarrow G$, such that $i ψ=φ$ (maps are acting on the right). Göbel and Trlifaj asked in \cite[Problem 30.4(4), p. 831]{GT12} which abelian groups are centers of localizations of simple groups. Approaching this question we show that every countable abelian group is indeed the center of some localization of a quasi-simple group, i.e. a central extension of a simple group. The proof uses Obraztsov and Ol'shanskii's construction of infinite simple gr…
A precompact group topology $τ$ on an abelian group $G$ is called {\em single sequence characterized} (for short, {\em ss-characterized}) if there is a sequence $\mathbf{u}= (u_n)$ in $G$ such that $τ$ is the finest precompact group topology on $G$ making $\mathbf{u}=(u_n)$ converge to zero. It is proved that a metrizable precompact abelian group $(G,τ)$ is $ss$-characterized iff it is countable. For every metrizable precompact group topology $τ$ on a countably infinite abelian group $G$ there exists a group topology $η$ such that $η$ is strictly finer than $τ$ and the groups $(G,τ)$ and $(G,η…
A result due to M. Gromov states that any two finitely generated groups Γ and Λ are quasi-isometric if and only if they admit a topological coupling, i.e., a commuting pair of proper continuous cocompact actions $Γ\curvearrowright X\curvearrowleft Λ$ on a locally compact Hausdorff space. This result is extended here to all (compactly generated) locally compact second countable groups.
We prove that non-abelian free groups of finite rank at least 3 or of countable rank are not $\forall$-homogeneous. We answer three open questions from Kharlampovich, Myasnikov, and Sklinos regarding whether free groups, finitely generated elementary free groups, and non-abelian limit groups form special kinds of Fraïssé classes in which embeddings must preserve $\forall$-formulas. We also provide interesting examples of countable non-finitely generated elementary free groups.
Given a Tychonoff space $X$, let $F(X)$ and $A(X)$ be respectively the free topological group and the free Abelian topological group over $X$ in the sense of Markov. In this paper, we consider two topological properties of $F(X)$ or $A(X)$, namely the countable tightness and $\mathfrak G$-base. We provide some characterizations of the countable tightness and $\mathfrak G$-base of $F(X)$ and $A(X)$ for various special classes of spaces $X$. Furthermore, we also study the countable tightness and $\mathfrak G$-base of some $F_{n}(X)$ of $F(X)$.
The abelianization is a functor from groups to abelian groups, which is left adjoint to the inclusion functor. Being a left adjoint, the abelianization functor commutes with all small colimits. In this paper we investigate the relation between the abelianization of a limit of groups and the limit of their abelianizations. We show that if $\mathcal{T}$ is a countable directed poset and $G:\mathcal{T}\longrightarrow\mathcal{G} rp$ is a diagram of groups that satisfies the Mittag-Leffler condition, then the natural map $$\mathrm{Ab}(\lim_{t\in\mathcal{T}}G_t)\longrightarrow\lim_{t\in\mathcal{T}}\…
We give a characterization of those abelian groups which are direct sums of cyclic groups and the Jacobson radical of their endomorphism rings are closed. A complete characterization of $p$-groups $A$ for which $(EndA,\mathcal T_L)$ is locally compact, where $\mathcal T_L$ is the Liebert topology on $EndA$, is given. We prove that if $A$ is a countable elementary $p$-group then $EndA$ has a non-admissible ring topology. To every functorial topology on $A$ a right bounded ring topology on $EndA$ is attached. By using this topology we construct on $EndA$ a non-metrizable and non-admissibe ring t…
A topological group $X$ is called $duoseparable$ if there exists a countable set $S\subseteq X$ such that $SUS=X$ for any neighborhood $U\subseteq X$ of the unit. We construct a functor $F$ assigning to each (abelian) topological group $X$ a duoseparable (abelain-by-cyclic) topological group $FX$, containing an isomorphic copy of $X$. In fact, the functor $F$ is defined on the category of unital topologized magmas. Also we prove that each $σ$-compact locally compact abelian topological group embeds into a duoseparable locally compact abelian-by-countable topological group.
It is well known there is no finitely generated abelian group which has the $R_\infty$ property. We will show that also many non-finitely generated abelian groups do not have the $R_\infty$ property, but this does not hold for all of them. In fact we construct an uncountable number of infinite countable abelian groups which do have the $R_{\infty}$ property. We also construct an abelian group such that the cardinality of the Reidemeister classes is uncountable for any automorphism of that group. 8 pages, no figures
We show that every countable non-abelian free group $Γ$ admits a spherically transitive action on a rooted tree $T$ such that the action of $Γ$ on the boundary of $T$ is not essentially free. This reproves a result of Bergeron and Gaboriau. The existence of such an action answers a question of Grigorchuk, Nekrashevich and Sushchanskii.
We show that if $G$ is a non-archimedean, Roelcke precompact, Polish group, then $G$ has Kazhdan's property (T). Moreover, if $G$ has a smallest open subgroup of finite index, then $G$ has a finite Kazhdan set. Examples of such $G$ include automorphism groups of countable $ω$-categorical structures, that is, the closed, oligomorphic permutation groups on a countable set. The proof uses work of the second author on the unitary representations of such groups, together with a separation result for infinite permutation groups. The latter allows the construction of a non-abelian free subgroup of $G…
We define a notion of an arithmetic set in an arbitrary countable group and study properties of these sets in the cases of Abelian groups and non-abelian free groups.
An Engel sink of an element $g$ of a group $G$ is a set ${\mathscr E}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ all sufficiently long commutators $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]$ belong to ${\mathscr E}(g)$. (Thus, $g$ is an Engel element precisely when we can choose ${\mathscr E}(g)=\{ 1\}$.) It is proved that if a profinite group $G$ admits an elementary abelian group of automorphisms $A$ of coprime order $q^2$ for a prime $q$ such that for each $a\in A\setminus\{1\}$ every element of the centralizer $C_G(a)$ has a countable (or finite) Engel sink, then $G$ has a finite normal subgroup $N$ such that $G/N$ i…
Let $S_\infty$ denote the topological group of permutations of the natural numbers. We study the complexity of the isomorphism relation on classes of closed subgroups $S_\infty$ in the setting of Borel reducibility between equivalence relations on Polish spaces. Given a closed subgroup $G$ of $S_\infty$, the coarse group $\mathcal M(G)$ is the structure with domain the cosets of open subgroups of $G$, and a ternary relation $AB \sqsubseteq C$. If $G$ has only countably many open subgroups, then $\mathcal M(G)$ is a countable structure. Coarse groups form our main tool in studying such closed s…
For a group $G$, $\mathcal{F}_G$ denotes the set of all non-empty finite subsets of $G$. We extend the finitary coarse structure of $G$ from $G\times G$ to $\mathcal{F}_G\times \mathcal{F}_G$ and say that a macro-uniform mapping $f: \mathcal{F}_G \rightarrow \mathcal{F}_G$ (resp. $f: [G]^2 \rightarrow G$) is a finitary selector (resp. 2-selector) of $G$ if $f(A)\in A$ for each $A\in \mathcal{F}_G$ (resp. $ A \in [G]^2 $). We prove that a group $G$ admits a finitary selector iff $G$ admits a 2-selector and iff $G$ is a finite extension of an infinite cyclic subgroup or $G$ is countable and loca…
Let N be the set of non-negative integer numbers, T the circle group and c the cardinality of the continuum. Given an abelian group G of size at most 2^c and a countable family F of infinite subsets of G, we construct "Baire many" monomorphisms p: G --> T^c such that p(E) is dense in {y in T^c : ny=0} whenever n in N, E in F, nE={0} and {x in E: mx=g} is finite for all g in G and m such that n=mk for some k in N--{1}. We apply this result to obtain an algebraic description of countable potentially dense subsets of abelian groups, thereby making a significant progress towards a solution of a pr…
An abelian group is said to be aleph_1-free if all its countable subgroups are free. Our main result is: If R is a ring with R^+ free and |R|<lambda <= 2^{aleph_0}, then there exists an aleph_1-free abelian group G of cardinality lambda with End(G)=R . A corollary to this theorem is: Indecomposable aleph_1-free abelian groups of cardinality aleph_1 do exist.
This paper is devoted to the study of the group ${\rm Ext} (G,H)$ of all extensions of topological abelian groups $0\to H\to X\to G\to 0$ and the group ${\rm Ext}_{TVS} (Z,Y)$ of all extensions of topological vector spaces $0\to Y\to X\to Z\to 0$. We focus on their behaviour under taking products, countable coproducts, dense subgroups and open subgroups. Finally, we apply the obtained properties to formulate in a more general setting some known results in the category of locally compact abelian groups and to determine conditions in which being a topological vector space is a three space proper…
Recently Außenhofer and the author independently have shown that the free abelian topological group $A(\mathbf{s})$ over a convergent sequence $\mathbf{s}$ does not admit the strongest compatible locally quasi-convex group topology that gives the first example of a locally quasi-convex abelian group without a Mackey group topology. In this note we considerably extend this example by showing that the free abelian topological group $A(X)$ over a non-discrete zero-dimensional metrizable space $X$ does not have a Mackey group topology. In particular, for every countable non-discrete metrizable spa…
A measure preserving action of a countably infinite group Γis called totally ergodic if every infinite subgroup of Γacts ergodically. For example, all mixing and mildly mixing actions are totally ergodic. This note shows that if an action of Γis totally ergodic then there exists a finite normal subgroup N of Γsuch that the stabilizer of almost every point is equal to N. Surprisingly the proof relies on the group theoretic fact (proved by Hall and Kulatilaka as well as by Kargapolov) that every infinite locally finite group contains an infinite abelian subgroup, of which all known proofs rely o…
We study final group topologies and their relations to compactness properties. In particular, we are interested in situations where a colimit or direct limit is locally compact, a k_ω-space, or locally k_ω. As a first application, we show that unitary forms of complex Kac-Moody groups can be described as the colimit of an amalgam of subgroups (in the category of Hausdorff topological groups, and the category of k_ω-groups). Our second application concerns Pontryagin duality theory for the classes of almost metrizable topological abelian groups, resp., locally k_ωtopological abelian groups, whi…
The notions of a box family and fibred cofinitely-coarse embedding are introduced. The countable, residually amenable groups satisfying the Haagerup property are then characterized as those possessing a box family that admits a fibred cofinitely-coarse embedding into a Hilbert space. This is a generalization of a result of X. Chen, Q. Wang and X. Wang on residually finite groups.
In the first half of this paper, we outline the construction of a new class of abelian pro-$p$ groups, which covers all countably-based pro-$p$ groups. In the second half, we study them, and classify them up to topological isomorphism and abstract isomorphism. We use Ulm's classification of discrete countable p-groups, which are the Pontryagin duals of such pro-$p$ groups. It emerges that they are all abstractly isomorphic to Cartesian products of finite groups and $p$-adic integers. We have thus constructed uncountably many pairwise topologically non-isomorphic profinite groups abstractly iso…
$\aleph_1$-free groups, abelian groups for which every countable subgroup is free, exhibit a number of interesting algebraic and set-theoretic properties. In this paper, we give a complete proof that the property of being $\aleph_1$-free is absolute; that is, if an abelian group $G$ is $\aleph_1$-free in some transitive model $\textbf{M}$ of ZFC, then it is $\aleph_1$-free in any transitive model of ZFC containing $G$. The absoluteness of $\aleph_1$-freeness has the following remarkable consequence: an abelian group $G$ is $\aleph_1$-free in some transitive model of ZFC if and only if it is (c…
We prove that groups for which every countable subgroup is free ($\aleph_1$-free groups) are n-slender, cm-slender, and lcH-slender. In particular every homomorphism from a completely metrizable group to an $\aleph_1$-free group has an open kernel. We also show that $\aleph_1$-free abelian groups are lcH-slender, which is especially interesting in light of the fact that some $\aleph_1$-free abelian groups are neither n- nor cm-slender. The strongly $\aleph_1$-free abelian groups are shown to be n-, cm-, and lcH-slender. We also give a characterization of cm- and lcH-slender abelian groups.
If G is a locally essential subgroup of a compact abelian group K, then: (i) t(G)=w(G)=w(K), where t(G) is the tightness of G; (ii) if G is radial, then K must be metrizable; (iii) G contains a super-sequence S converging to 0 such that |S|=w(G)=w(K). Items (i)--(iii) hold when G is a dense locally minimal subgroup of K. We show that locally minimal, locally precompact abelian groups of countable tightness are metrizable. In particular, a minimal abelian group of countable tightness is metrizable. This answers a question of O. Okunev posed in 2007. For every uncountable cardinal kappa, we cons…
Let p be a fixed prime. An Abelian p-group is an Abelian group (not necessarily finitely generated) in which every element has for its order some power of p. The countable Abelian p-groups are classified by Ulm's theorem, and Khisamiev characterized the Abelian p-groups with computable copies. A computable structure A is said to be $Δ^0_α$ categorical if for any computable structure B isomorphic to A there is a $Δ^0_α$ function witnessing that the two are isomorphic. The present paper seeks to characterize $Δ^0_α$ categoricity for Abelian p-groups, and results of this kind are given for broad …
