Questions tagged [topological-groups]

A topological group is a group $G$ together with a topology on the elements of $G$ such that the group operation and group inverse function are both continuous (with respect to the topology).

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66 votes
1 answer
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Why can't a nonabelian group be 75% abelian?

This question asks for intuition, not a proof. An earlier question, Measures of non-abelian-ness was thoroughly answered by Arturo Magidin. A paper by Gustafson1 proves that, for a nonabelian group, ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
53 votes
6 answers
5k views

Does homeomorphic and isomorphic always imply homeomorphically isomorphic?

Let $(G,\cdot,T)$ and $(H,\star,S)$ be topological groups such that $(G,T)$ is homeomorphic to $(H,S)$ and $(G,\cdot)$ is isomorphic to $(H,\star)$. Does it follow that $(G,\cdot,T)$ and $(H,\star,S)...
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49 votes
5 answers
8k views

Fundamental group as topological group

Background Let $(X,x)$ be a pointed topological space. Then the fundamental group $\pi_1(X,x)$ becomes a topological space: Endow the set of maps $S^1 \to X$ with the compact-open topology, endow the ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
43 votes
7 answers
8k views

Why are free groups residually finite?

Why is it that every nontrivial word in a free group (it's easy to reduce to the case of, say, two generators) has a nontrivial image in some finite group? Equivalently, why is the natural map from a ...
Owen Biesel's user avatar
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32 votes
3 answers
3k views

morphism from a compact group to Z ?

I wonder if it there exists a topological compact group $G$ (by compact, I mean Hausdorff and quasi-compact) and a non-zero group morphism $\phi : G \to \mathbb{Z}$ (without assuming any topological ...
Florent MARTIN's user avatar
32 votes
4 answers
4k views

Compact open topology on $\mathrm{Homeo}(X)$

Let $X$ and $Y$ be topological spaces. Define the compact open topology on the set $\mathrm{M}(X,Y)$ of continuous maps from $X$ to $Y$ via the subbase $[K,O]$ of all maps $f:X\rightarrow Y$ s.t. $f(K)...
Olivier Bégassat's user avatar
32 votes
1 answer
2k views

A group allowing exactly 7 group topologies

Is there a group $G$ allowing exactly 7 group topologies on $G$: $\mathcal T_{\text{trivial}}, \mathcal T_{\text{discrete}}, \mathcal T_1, \mathcal T_2,\mathcal T_3,\mathcal T_4, \mathcal T_5$ with $$...
Minimus Heximus's user avatar
31 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is a normed space which is homeomorphic to a Banach space complete?

I have a normed space $(E,||\cdot||)$ which is homeomorphic (as a topological space) to a Banach space $F$. Does this imply that $(E,||\cdot||)$ is also a Banach space? I think I read something ...
Neslihan's user avatar
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27 votes
1 answer
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Can closed compacts in a topological group behave "paradoxically" with respect to unions, intersections, and one-sided translations?

Consider two closed compacts $A$ and $B$ in a topological group $\Gamma$. Let $A'$ be a left translation of $A$ and $B'$ a left translation of $B$: $A' = aA$, $B' = bB$. Suppose it is known that $A'\...
Alexey Muranov's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
7k views

Compact open topology

What is the intuition behind using compact open topology for eg. in the case of Pontryagin dual ?
Suman's user avatar
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24 votes
1 answer
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Which principlal bundles are locally trivial?

If $H$ is a closed subgroup of a topological group $G$, then the orbit map $G\to G/H$ is a principal bundle, yet somewhat surprisingly, it need not be locally trivial. In the wikipedia article on ...
Igor Belegradek's user avatar
24 votes
0 answers
1k views

Do all possible trees arise as orbit trees of some permutation groups?

I.Motivation from descriptive set theory (Contains some quotes from Maciej Malicki's paper.) The classical theorem of Birkhoff-Kakutani implies that every metrizable topological group G admits a ...
Mingzhi Xuan's user avatar
23 votes
5 answers
4k views

Fundamental groups of topological groups.

Let $G$ be a topological group, and $\pi_1(G,e)$ its fundamental group at the identity. If $G$ is the trivial group then $G \cong \pi_1(G,e)$ as abstract groups. My question is: If $G$ is a non-...
Chris 's user avatar
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21 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is a reductive adelic group a Type I group?

I foresee that to experts of automorphic forms this question will sound unimportant or useless or even not worthy of an answer; but none of these are going to stop me from asking it! The question is ...
Valerie's user avatar
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21 votes
0 answers
713 views

Closed connected additive subgroups of the Hilbert space

It is a classical result that a closed and connected additive subgroup of $\mathbb{R}^n$ is necessarily a linear subspace. However, this is no longer true in infinite dimension: a very easy example is ...
Pietro Majer's user avatar
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20 votes
4 answers
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Find a "natural" group that contains the quotient of the infinite symmetric group by the alternating subgroup

Let $S_\infty$ the group of permutations of $\mathbb{N}$. It can be shown that there is no homomorphism $S_\infty \to \mathbf{Z}/2$ extending the sign on the finite symmetric groups. Is it possible to ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
1k views

Without choice, can every homomorphism from a profinite group to a finite group be continuous?

In ZFC, some homomorphisms from profinite groups to finite groups are discontinuous. For instance, see the examples in this question. However, all three constructions given use consequences of the ...
Will Sawin's user avatar
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20 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is every compact topological ring a profinite ring?

There are a lot of compact (Hausdorff) groups, whereas every compact field is finite. What about rings? Is there a classification theorem for compact rings? If you take a cofiltered limit of finite ...
Gene S. Kopp's user avatar
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20 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is every topological (resp. Lie-) group the isometrygroup of a metric space (resp. Riemannian manifold)?

The isometry group of a metric space is a topological group (with the compact open topology). The isometry group of a Riemann Manifold is a Liegroup. (Thm. of Steenrod-Myers) So, is every topological ...
archipelago's user avatar
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20 votes
0 answers
300 views

Existence of orthonormal basis for $L^2(G)$ in $C_c(G)$

Remark: I cross-posted this question on MSE and added a bounty to it. Suppose that $G$ is a locally compact (Hausdorff) group endowed with the Haar measure. It is well-known that the compactly ...
Calculix's user avatar
  • 321
19 votes
9 answers
6k views

Haar measure on a quotient, References for

I remember reading Weil's "Basic Number Theory" and giving up after a while. Now I find myself thinking of it (thanks to some comments by Ben Linowitz). Right from the very beginning, Weil ...
Anweshi's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
529 views

Ostrowski's Theorem for topological rings?

Ostrowski's theorem classifies all absolute values on a number field $K$. Questions: More generally, can one classify all Hausdorff topologies on $K$ making $K$ into a topological field? In ...
Tim Campion's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
1k views

$2$-categorical structure in Grothendieck's Galois Theory

Grothendieck's Galois Theory, as developed in SGA I, V.4, or very gently in Lenstra's notes, establishes an equivalence between profinite groups and Galois categories. We can put this into the ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
19 votes
0 answers
692 views

The cofinality of $(\mathbb{N}^\kappa,\le)$ for uncountable $\kappa$?

For a partially ordered set $P$, a set $A\subseteq P$ is cofinal if for each element of $P$ there is a larger element in $A$. The cofinality of $P$, ${\rm cof}(P)$, is the minimal cardinality of a ...
Boaz Tsaban's user avatar
  • 3,102
18 votes
2 answers
1k views

Anything between vector bundles and sphere bundles?

There are two extremities: on the "easy end" one has vector bundles which are classified by maps to the (more or less) well understood spaces like Grassmanians; on the "hard end" there are spherical ...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does ZF prove that topological groups are completely regular?

Let $\mathbf{G} = \langle G,\cdot,\mathcal{T}\;\rangle$ be a topological group. Let $\mathbf{e}$ be the identity element of $\langle G,\cdot \rangle$. Assume $\{\mathbf{e}\}$ is closed in $\langle G,\...
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18 votes
1 answer
1k views

Are there non-reflexive abelian topological groups isomorphic to their second dual?

I posted the following question in a comment at Are there non-reflexive vector spaces isomorphic to their bi-dual? and it got one upvote, but it didn't get an answer, so I'll post it as an ...
KConrad's user avatar
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18 votes
0 answers
353 views

Can Rep(G) tell us whether G is discrete?

Given a locally compact group $G$, let $$\mathrm{Rep}(G)$$ be its category of unitary representations. The objects of that category are strongly continuous unitary representations of $G$ on Hilbert ...
André Henriques's user avatar
17 votes
6 answers
5k views

What is a good book on topological groups?

I am looking for a good book on Topological Groups. I have read Pontryagin myself, and I looked some other in the library but they all seem to go in length into some esoteric topics. I would love ...
17 votes
0 answers
1k views

What groups are Lie groups?

We know how to tell if a topological group is a Lie group: this was famously asked by Hilbert and answered gloriously by Gleason, Montgomery and Zippin in the 50s (a locally compact topological group ...
Mariano Suárez-Álvarez's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
461 views

Where can I learn more about the topology on $\mathbb{R}$ induced by the map $\mathbb{R} \to \prod_{a>0} (\mathbb{R}/a\mathbb{Z})$?

Consider the (continuous, injective, abelian group homomorphism) map $\Phi \colon \mathbb{R} \to \prod_{a>0} (\mathbb{R}/a\mathbb{Z})$ (where the target is given the product topology) taking $x\in \...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
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16 votes
2 answers
1k views

rationalization of classifying spaces

This question is probably trivial for anyone who is more familiar with rational homotopy theory than me, but anyway: Let $G$ be a simply-connected topological group. In particular, it is an $H$-...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

A possible mistake in Walter Rudin, "Fourier analysis on groups"

I have the following lemma 4.2.4 on page 80 in the book (we have locally compact abelian topological groups $G_1, G_2$ and their duals $\Gamma_1, \Gamma_2$): Suppose $E$ is a coset in $\Gamma_2$ ...
Petr Naryshkin's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
1k views

Countable subgroups of compact groups

What is known about countable subgroups of compact groups? More precisely, what countable groups can be embedded into compact groups (I mean just an injective homomorphism, I don't consider any ...
Konstantin Slutsky's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Are measurable homomorphisms $ (\Bbb{C},+) \to (\Bbb{C},+) $ or $ (\Bbb{C},+) \to (\Bbb{C},*) $ continuous, and do they admit an explicit description?

I am interested in generalizations of the following fact (known as automatic continuity, as pointed out below). I am especially looking for references to papers dating back to 1920’s. I feel that ...
mmm 's user avatar
  • 1,299
15 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does $\Bbb Z[X]$ determine $X$?

For a Hausdorff space $X$, consider the free abelian group $\mathbb{Z}[X]$ generated by $X$. Equip it with the finest topology which makes the map $X\to\mathbb{Z}[X]$, $x\mapsto [x]$ continuous and ...
user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Why is the dual of a torus the same as its fundamental group?

The set of continuous homomorphisms from a torus ${\mathbb T}^n = ({\mathbb R}/{\mathbb Z})^n \to {\mathbb R}/{\mathbb Z}$ can be identified with ${\mathbb Z}^n$ if we assign to each $k = (k_1, \ldots ...
Phil Isett's user avatar
  • 2,203
15 votes
1 answer
971 views

Is a left topological group which is a manifold a topological group?

Let $G$ be a left topological group, i.e. a topological space with group operation such that left multiplication $L_g : x \mapsto gx$ is continuous (but right multiplication and inversion are not ...
Maurizio Monge's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
460 views

For what LCH groups is the Haar measure $\mu(U x U)$ bounded?

Let $G$ be a locally compact Hausdorff (LCH) topological group with left Haar measure $\mu$. Given a compact unit neighborhood $U$, consider the function $$ \Phi: \quad G \to (0,\infty), \quad x \...
PhoemueX's user avatar
  • 754
15 votes
1 answer
442 views

In what topological abelian groups does convergence to zero imply summability?

(This question has been on math.SE for over a week and has not gotten any answers.) Let $G$ be a (T$_0$) topological abelian group, and let $0$ be its identity element. Assume that for all index ...
user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
913 views

Examples of locally compact groups that do not admit enough finite dimensional representations

I apologize in advance if this is well-known, but I can't seem to find the answer in the literature. Let me be precise about my question. I am looking for concrete examples of locally compact ...
Rick Sternbach's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
871 views

Contractible topological groups

Does there exist a Hausdorff topological group which is contractible and of finite covering dimension but which is not homeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^n$ for some $n$?
Lars's user avatar
  • 141
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Distributivity of group topologies on $\Bbb Z$

Let $\mathcal L$ be the set of all group topologies on $\Bbb Z$. It is known that $(\mathcal L,\subseteq)$ is a modular complete lattice [1]. Is $(\mathcal L,\subseteq)$ distributive? $$~$$ [1] ...
Minimus Heximus's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
290 views

Is $Alt_\omega$ a dense subgroup of a non-discrete locally compact topological group?

Let $S_\omega$ be the group of bijections of the countable ordinal $\omega:=\{0,1,2,\dots\}$ and $Alt_\omega$ be the subgroup of $S_\omega$ consisting of even permutations of $\omega$ (i.e., the ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.7k
14 votes
1 answer
557 views

How flexible is the infinite-dimensional torus?

Let $\mathbb T=\mathbb R/\mathbb Z$ be the circle group and $\mathbb T^\omega$ be the infinite-dimensional torus, considered as an abelian compact topological group. Problem 1. Is it true that for ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.7k
14 votes
0 answers
251 views

Is the group $\operatorname{Diff}^1_0(\mathbb R^d)$ connected?

Is the group $$ \operatorname{Diff}^1_0(\mathbb R^d) = \operatorname{Diff}^1(\mathbb R^d) \cap \big(\operatorname{Id}_{\mathbb R^d} + C^1_0(\mathbb R^d,\mathbb R^d)\big) $$ connected? Here $$ C^1_0(\...
Martins Bruveris's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
418 views

A meager subgroup of the real line, which cannot be covered by countably many closed subsets of measure zero?

Is there a ZFC-example of a subgroup $H$ of the real line $\mathbb R$ such $H$ is meager, has zero Lebesgue measure, but cannot be covered by countably many closed subsets of measure zero in $\mathbb ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.7k
13 votes
2 answers
505 views

subsets of groups which have to be closed no matter what

One example of a subset of a group $G$ which has to be closed in any topology on $G$ compatible with the group operations is a centraliser. Are there any other interesting examples?
Rupert's user avatar
  • 1,985
13 votes
1 answer
433 views

Is the identity function a unique multiplicative homeomorphism of $\mathbb N$?

Endow the set $\mathbb N$ of positive integers with the topology $\tau$ generated by the base consisting of arithmetic progressions $a+b\mathbb N_0$ where $\mathbb N_0=\{0\}\cup\mathbb N$, where $a,b\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.7k
13 votes
1 answer
762 views

Is there a compact, connected, totally path-disconnected topological group?

There exist homogeneous spaces such as the pseudo-arc, which are compact, connected, and totally path-disconnected. Is there a nontrivial, Hausdorff topological group with the same properties, i.e. ...
Jeremy Brazas's user avatar

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