On Covering Groups

We study finite-sheeted covering mappings from compact connected spaces onto compact connected groups. For such a covering mapping we consider a method of supplying its covering space by a group structure. The covering space endowed with that group structure is a topological group, and a given covering mapping turns into a homomorphism of compact connected groups.

     

Finite sheeted covering maps over 2-dimensional connected, compact Abelian groups

Let G be a 2-dimensional connected, compact Abelian group and s be a positive integer. We prove that a classification of s-sheeted covering maps over G is reduced to a classification of s-index torsionfree supergroups of the Pontrjagin dual . Using group theoretic results from earlier paper we demonstrate its consequences. We also prove that for a connected compact group Y:

(1)

Every finite-sheeted covering map from a connected space over Y is equivalent to a covering homomorphism from a compact, connected group.

(2)

If two finite-sheeted covering homomorphisms over Y are equivalent, then they are equivalent as topological homomorphisms.

     

On the product of homogeneous spaces

Within the class of Tychonoff spaces, and within the class of topological groups, most of the natural questions concerning ‘productive closure’ of the subclasses of countably compact and pseudocompact spaces are answered by the following three well-known results: (1) [ZFC] There is a countably compact Tychonoff space X such that X × X is not pseudocompact; (2) [ZFC] The product of any set of pseudocompact topological groups is pseudocompact; and (3) [ZFC+ MA] There are countably compact topological groups G₀, G₁ such that G₀ × G₁ is not countably compact.In this paper we consider the question of ‘productive closure” in the intermediate class of homogeneous spaces. Our principal result, whose proof leans heavily on a simple, elegant result of V.V. Uspenski?, is this: In ZFC there are pseudocompact, homogeneous spaces X₀, X₁ such that X₀ × X₁ is not pseudocompact; if in addition MA is assumed, the spaces X_i may be chosen countably compact.Our construction yields an unexpected corollary in a different direction: Every compact space embeds as a retract in a countably compact, homogeneous space. Thus for every cardinal number α there is a countably compact, homogeneous space whose Souslin number exceeds α.     

Uniform universal covers of uniform spaces

We develop a generalized covering space theory for a class of uniform spaces called coverable spaces. Coverable spaces include all geodesic metric spaces, connected and locally pathwise connected compact topological spaces, in particular Peano continua, as well as more pathological spaces like the topologist's sine curve. The uniform universal cover of a coverable space is a kind of generalized cover with universal and lifting properties in the category of uniform spaces and uniformly continuous mappings. Associated with the uniform universal cover is a functorial uniform space invariant called the deck group, which is related to the classical fundamental group by a natural homomorphism. We obtain some specific results for one-dimensional spaces.     

Closed mappings onto metric spaces

We investigate the classes of spaces that can be mapped onto a metrizable space by a closed mapping with fibers having a given property $\text{P}$. We give some conditions which assure that such classes are closed under the action of perfect or open and compact mappings. Such a treatment includes the investigation of paracompact p-spaces and M-spaces. We also discuss spaces that can be mapped onto a metacompact Moore space.     

Group-valued continuous functions with the topology of pointwise convergence

Let G be a topological group with the identity element e. Given a space X, we denote by Cp(X,G) the group of all continuous functions from X to G endowed with the topology of pointwise convergence, and we say that X is: (a) G-regular if, for each closed set F⊆X and every point x∈X?F, there exist f∈Cp(X,G) and g∈G?{e} such that f(x)=g and f(F)⊆{e}; (b) G^?-regular provided that there exists g∈G?{e} such that, for each closed set F⊆X and every point x∈X?F, one can find f∈Cp(X,G) with f(x)=g and f(F)⊆{e}. Spaces X and Y are G-equivalent provided that the topological groups Cp(X,G) and Cp(Y,G) are topologically isomorphic.We investigate which topological properties are preserved by G-equivalence, with a special emphasis being placed on characterizing topological properties of X in terms of those of Cp(X,G). Since R-equivalence coincides with l-equivalence, this line of research “includes” major topics of the classical Cp-theory of Arhangel'ski? as a particular case (when G=R).We introduce a new class of TAP groups that contains all groups having no small subgroups (NSS groups). We prove that: (i) for a given NSS group G, a G-regular space X is pseudocompact if and only if Cp(X,G) is TAP, and (ii) for a metrizable NSS group G, a G^?-regular space X is compact if and only if Cp(X,G) is a TAP group of countable tightness. In particular, a Tychonoff space X is pseudocompact (compact) if and only if Cp(X,R) is a TAP group (of countable tightness). Demonstrating the limits of the result in (i), we give an example of a precompact TAP group G and a G-regular countably compact space X such that Cp(X,G) is not TAP.We show that Tychonoff spaces X and Y are T-equivalent if and only if their free precompact Abelian groups are topologically isomorphic, where T stays for the quotient group R/Z. As a corollary, we obtain that T-equivalence implies G-equivalence for every Abelian precompact group G. We establish that T-equivalence preserves the following topological properties: compactness, pseudocompactness, σ-compactness, the property of being a Lindelöf Σ-space, the property of being a compact metrizable space, the (finite) number of connected components, connectedness, total disconnectedness. An example of R-equivalent (that is, l-equivalent) spaces that are not T-equivalent is constructed.     

Embedding paratopological groups into topological products

We show that a Hausdorff paratopological group G admits a topological embedding as a subgroup into a topological product of Hausdorff first-countable (second-countable) paratopological groups if and only if G is ω-balanced (totally ω-narrow) and the Hausdorff number of G is countable, i.e., for every neighbourhood U of the neutral element e of G there exists a countable family γ of neighbourhoods of e such that _?V∈γVV−1⊆U. Similarly, we prove that a regular paratopological group G can be topologically embedded as a subgroup into a topological product of regular first-countable (second-countable) paratopological groups if and only if G is ω-balanced (totally ω-narrow) and the index of regularity of G is countable.As a by-product, we show that a regular totally ω-narrow paratopological group with countable index of regularity is Tychonoff.     

On isometrically universal spaces, mappings, and actions of groups

In this paper we first consider some well-known classes of separable metric spaces which are isometrically ω-saturated (see [S.D. Iliadis, Universal Spaces and Mappings, North-Holland Mathematics Studies, vol. 198, Elsevier, 2005, xvi+559]) and, therefore, contain isometrically universal spaces. We put some problems concerning such spaces most of which are related with the properties of the isometrically universal Urysohn space. Furthermore, using the defined notions of isometrically universal mappings and G-spaces (which are analogies of the notion of isometrically universal spaces) we introduce the notions of an isometrically ω-saturated class of mappings and an isometrically ω-saturated class of G-spaces (in which there are “many” isometrically universal elements). We prove that all results of Sections 6.1 and 7.1 of [S.D. Iliadis, Universal Spaces and Mappings, North-Holland Mathematics Studies, vol. 198, Elsevier, 2005, xvi+559] can be reformulated for isometrically ω-saturated classes of spaces and G-spaces, respectively. In particular, we prove that if D and R are isometrically ω-saturated classes of spaces, then the class of all mappings with the domain in D and range in R is an isometrically ω-saturated class of mappings and, therefore, in this class there are isometrically universal elements. As a corollary of this result we have that since the class of all mappings is isometrically ω-saturated, in this class there are isometrically universal mappings. Similarly, if G is an arbitrary separable metric group and P is an isometrically ω-saturated class of spaces, then the class of all G-spaces (X,F), where X is an element of P, is an isometrically ω-saturated class of G-spaces and, therefore, in this class there are isometrically universal elements. In particular, for any separable metric group G, in the class of all G-spaces there are isometrically universal G-spaces. We also pose some problems concerning isometrically universal mappings and G-spaces some of which concern the Urysohn space.     

Cut points in some connected topological spaces

We prove that a connected topological space with endpoints has exactly two non-cut points and every cut point is a strong cut point; it follows that such a space is a COTS and the only two non-cut points turn out to be endpoints (in each of the two orders) of the COTS. A non-indiscrete connected topological space with exactly two non-cut points and having only finitely many closed points is proved homeomorphic to a finite subspace of the Khalimsky line. Further, it is shown, without assuming any separation axiom, that in a connected and locally connected topological space X, for a, b in X, S[a,b] is compact whenever it is closed. Using this result we show that an H(i) connected and locally connected topological space with exactly two non-cut points is a compact COTS with end points.     

Every scattered space is subcompact

We prove that every scattered space is hereditarily subcompact and any finite union of subcompact spaces is subcompact. It is a long-standing open problem whether every ?ech-complete space is subcompact. Moreover, it is not even known whether the complement of every countable subset of a compact space is subcompact. We prove that this is the case for linearly ordered compact spaces as well as for ω  -monolithic compact spaces. We also establish a general result for Tychonoff products of discrete spaces which implies that dense _Gδ$G_{\delta }$-subsets of Cantor cubes are subcompact.     

The three space problem in topological groups

We study compact, countably compact, pseudocompact, and functionally bounded sets in extensions of topological groups. A property P is said to be a three space property if, for every topological group G and a closed invariant subgroup N of G, the fact that both groups N and G/N have P implies that G also has P. It is shown that if all compact (countably compact) subsets of the groups N and G/N are metrizable, then G has the same property. However, the result cannot be extended to pseudocompact subsets, a counterexample exists under p=c. Another example shows that extensions of groups do not preserve the classes of realcompact, Dieudonné complete and μ-spaces: one can find a pseudocompact, non-compact Abelian topological group G and an infinite, closed, realcompact subgroup N of G such that G/N is compact and all functionally bounded subsets of N are finite. Several examples given in the article destroy a number of tempting conjectures about extensions of topological groups.     

Fréchet-Urysohn fans in free topological groups

In this paper we answer the question of T. Banakh and M. Zarichnyi constructing a copy of the Fréchet-Urysohn fan S_ω in a topological group G admitting a functorial embedding [0,1]⊂G. The latter means that each autohomeomorphism of [0,1] extends to a continuous homomorphism of G. This implies that many natural free topological group constructions (e.g. the constructions of the Markov free topological group, free abelian topological group, free totally bounded group, free compact group) applied to a Tychonov space X containing a topological copy of the space Q of rationals give topological groups containing S_ω.     

Bounded sets in topological groups and embeddings

We show that the existence of a non-metrizable compact subspace of a topological group G often implies that G contains an uncountable supersequence (a copy of the one-point compactification of an uncountable discrete space). The existence of uncountable supersequences in a topological group has a strong impact on bounded subsets of the group. For example, if a topological group G contains an uncountable supersequence and K is a closed bounded subset of G which does not contain uncountable supersequences, then any subset A of K is bounded in G?(K?A). We also show that every precompact Abelian topological group H can be embedded as a closed subgroup into a precompact Abelian topological group G such that H is bounded in G and all bounded subsets of the quotient group G/H are finite. This complements Ursul's result on closed embeddings of precompact groups to pseudocompact groups.     

Fibrant extensions of free G-spaces

We show that any equivariant fibrant extension of a compact free G-space is also free. This result allows us to prove that the orbit space of any equivariant fibrant compact space E is also fibrant, provided that E has only one orbit type.     

Linearization of proper group actions

We prove that if G is a locally compact group acting properly (in the sense of R. Palais) on a space X that is metrizable by a G-invariant metric, then X can be embedded equivariantly into a normed linear G-space E endowed with a linear isometric G-action which is proper on the complement E?{0}. If, in addition, G is a Lie group then E?{0} is a G-equivariant absolute extensor. One can make this equivariant embedding even closed, but in this case the non-proper part of the linearizing G-space E may be an entire subspace instead of {0}.     

Remainders of rectifiable spaces

We prove a Dichotomy Theorem: for any Hausdorff compactification bG of an arbitrary rectifiable space G, the remainder bG?G is either pseudocompact or Lindelöf. This theorem generalizes a similar theorem on topological groups obtained earlier in A.V. Arhangel'skii (2008) [6], but the proof for rectifiable spaces is considerably more involved than in the case of topological groups. It follows that if a remainder of a rectifiable space G is paracompact or Dieudonné complete, then the remainder is Lindelöf and that G is a p-space. We also present an example showing that the Dichotomy Theorem does not extend to all paratopological groups. Some other results are obtained, and some open questions are formulated.     

Building suitable sets for locally compact groups by means of continuous selections

If a discrete subset S of a topological group G with the identity 1 generates a dense subgroup of G and S∪{1} is closed in G, then S is called a suitable set for G. We apply Michael's selection theorem to offer a direct, self-contained, purely topological proof of the result of Hofmann and Morris [K.-H. Hofmann, S.A. Morris, Weight and c, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 68 (1-2) (1990) 181-194] on the existence of suitable sets in locally compact groups. Our approach uses only elementary facts from (topological) group theory.     

Realcompactness of hyperspaces and extensions of open-closed maps

In response to questions of Ginsburg [9, 10], we prove that if cf(c)>ω₁, then there exists an open-closed, continuous map f from a normal, realcompact space X onto a space Y which is not realcompact. By his result the hyperspace 2^x of closed subsets of X is then not realcompact, and the extension μf(vf) of f to the topological completion (the Hewitt realcompactification) of X is not onto. The latter fact solves problems raised by Morita [16] and by Isiwata [12] both negatively. We also consider the problem whether or not the hyperspace of a hereditarily Lindelöf space is hereditarily realcompact.     

Self-duality in the class of precompact groups

A topological Abelian group G is called (strongly) self-dual if there exists a topological isomorphism Φ:G→G^∧ of G onto the dual group G^∧ (such that Φ(x)(y)=Φ(y)(x) for all x,y∈G). We prove that every countably compact self-dual Abelian group is finite. It turns out, however, that for every infinite cardinal κ with κω=κ, there exists a pseudocompact, non-compact, strongly self-dual Boolean group of cardinality κ.