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Does the existence of (left) Haar measure on a locally compact topological group require that the group be Hausdorff?

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    $\begingroup$ No, you can do the usual construction on the Kolmogorov quotient (which is locally compact Hausdorff) and pull the measure back on the original group. $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2010 at 3:39
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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but I'm not sure about "pull the measure back". Generally one can push measures forward though. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble
    Dec 29, 2012 at 23:56
  • $\begingroup$ The group on 2 elements with the indiscrete topology is locally compact, I think it has a Haar measure for any definition I can think of. Anyway, the question is unclear since "Haar measure" should be defined in a way that the question makes sense. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Mar 6, 2017 at 4:00
  • $\begingroup$ @ToddTrimble since Borel subsets of a topological group are invariant by the closure of $\{1\}$, the definition of "pull the measure back" is clear. In general, if $f:X\to Y$ is a map and you have a $\sigma$-algebra and measure on $Y$, the pull-back of the $\sigma$-algebra is the set of $f^{-1}(B)$, $B$ in the $\sigma$-algebra of $Y$, and the measure is clearly defined. This construction is quite trivial and uninteresting but precisely is fine for this question. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Mar 6, 2017 at 4:02
  • $\begingroup$ @YCor: You say that "the measure is clearly defined". Could you please make this part explicit for the slower ones of us ("lourds d'esprit")? I believe that the pullback measure should be $(f^* \mu) (B) = \mu (f (B))$, and it is not clear why $f(B)$ should be Borel when $B$ is Borel, and why this should give a measure. Or am I misunderstanding what "pullback measure" is supposed to mean here? $\endgroup$
    – Alex M.
    Apr 6, 2018 at 20:52

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No. Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo's "On the existence and uniqueness of invariant measures on locally-compact groups" presents a proof of existence (and uniqueness up to a multiplicative strictly positive constant) of a left Haar measure given a locally-compact, not necessarily Hausdorff, group.

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  • $\begingroup$ Do you know what definition of Radon measure he is using in that paper? A Borel measure that is locally finite and inner regular? $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2010 at 4:01
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know of any other definition. (Is there one?) $\endgroup$
    – Jason Dyer
    Apr 28, 2010 at 4:28
  • $\begingroup$ Of course there is another definition. In fact, "Radon Measure" comes originally from Bourbaki, where it is defined as a certain type of linear functional. $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2010 at 10:25
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    $\begingroup$ @JasonDyer This comment is 7 years late: in Definition 5 of page 2 of that link one finds the notation $\mathcal{O}$ used to denote the collection of open sets, and on the 2nd to last line of page 3 it is thereby said that if $O$ is open and $K$ is a compact subset then $O \cap K^c$ is open. That is tantamount to knowing compact sets are closed. How does one know such closedness if the group is not assumed to be Hausdorff? $\endgroup$
    – nfdc23
    Mar 6, 2017 at 1:25
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    $\begingroup$ @nfdc23 Isn't the property used in the paper actually equivalent (rather than just tantamount) to all compact sets being closed? It is asserted to work for all open sets $O$. So if we take $O$ to be the whole group, then the assertion is that $K$ compact implies $K^c$ open, right? If all compact sets are closed then the space is $T_1$. But topological groups are always completely regular. And comp. reg. + $T_1$ implies Hausdorff. $\endgroup$
    – Linden
    Jun 30, 2017 at 19:43

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