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Hello,

I am trying to show that every metrizable locally compact topological group admits a complete metric generating the topology of the group

flag	asked Aug 15 2011 at 20:31 BBB 31●1

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Could you please give some background or motivation (why do you want to know? why do you think it's true? for which examples do you know it's true? etc) – Yemon Choi Aug 15 2011 at 20:41

suggestions: Choose one side, say left. Show that the left uniformity is complete. Show that a left-invariant metric exists. Relate these two. – Gerald Edgar Aug 15 2011 at 21:24

If you make the completion of the metric space (taking the Cauchy sequences) this is coherent by algebraic group operations – Buschi Sergio Aug 15 2011 at 21:56

Alain Valette · Answer 1 · 2011-08-15 22:33:26Z UTC

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Every second countable, locally compact group admits a metric which is left-invariant, generates the topology, and is proper (i.e. closed balls are compact). See Theorem 4.5 in http://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0606794

Such a metric is clearly complete.

answered Aug 15 2011 at 22:33

Alain Valette
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However, the solution for the homework-type problem proposed was known long before 2006. – Gerald Edgar Aug 16 2011 at 12:06

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@Gerald: Indeed, Yves Cornulier just pointed out to me this paper: Struble, Raimond A. Metrics in locally compact groups. Compositio Mathematica, 28 no. 3 (1974), p. 217-222 numdam.org/numdam-bin/… – Alain Valette Aug 16 2011 at 14:36

Complete metrics in locally compact topological groups

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