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Questions tagged [topological-groups]

A topological group is a group endowed with a topology such that the group operation and inversion are continuous maps. They are useful in various areas of mathematics. Every topological vector space is a topological group. Locally compact groups are important in harmonic analysis.

A topological group is a group endowed with a topology such that both the group operation and inversion are continuous maps. Every group can be understood as a topological group, if we take the discrete topology.

Topological groups are useful in various areas of mathematics. Every topological vector space is a topological group. Locally compact groups are important in harmonic analysis, see e.g. Pontryagin duality.

2389 questions
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Which Algebraic Properties Distinguish Lie Groups from Abstract Groups?

This question is motivated by a previous one: Conditions for a smooth manifold to admit the structure of a Lie group, and wants to be a sort of "converse". Here I am taking an abstract group $G$ and looking for necessary conditions for it to admit…
Lor
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Given a group $ G $, how many topological/Lie group structures does $ G $ have?

Given any abstract group $ G $, how much is known about which types of topological/Lie group structures it might have? Any abstract group $ G $ will have the structure of a discrete topological group (since generally, any set can be given the…
rondo9
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Can $S^2$ be turned into a topological group?

I know that $S^1$ and $S^3$ can be turned into topological groups by considering complex multiplication and quaternion multiplication respectively, but I don't know how to prove or disprove that $S^2$ can. This is just a recreational problem for me.…
user123641
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$\mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{R}^2$ isomorphic as groups?

Using the axiom of choice, $\mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{R}^2$ are equal-dimensional vector spaces over $\mathbb{Q}$ and so are isomorphic as $\mathbb{Q}$-vector spaces thus as groups. This is obvious, however I recently began reading Godement's…
Maxime Ramzi
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Is every group a Galois group?

It is well-known that any finite group is the Galois group of a Galois extension. This follows from Cayley's theorem (as can be seen in this answer). This (linked) answer led me to the following question: What about infinite groups? Infinite…
M Turgeon
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Haar Measure of a Topological Ring

A topological ring is a (not necessarily unital) ring $(R,+,\cdot)$ equipped with a topology $\mathcal{T}$ such that, with respect to $\mathcal{T}$, both $(R,+)$ is a topological group and $\cdot:R\times R\to R$ is a continuous map. A left Haar…
Batominovski
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What are the product and coproduct in the category of topological groups?

What are the product and coproduct in the category of topological groups? I know the limits in the categories of groups, abelian groups and topological spaces, and was wondering about the same thing.
faridrb
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How to show that topological groups are automatically Hausdorff?

On page 146, James Munkres' textbook Topology(2ed), Show that $G$ (a topological group) is Hausdorff. In fact, show that if $x \neq y$, there is a neighborhood $V$ of $e$ such that $V \cdot x$ and $V \cdot y$ are disjoint. Noticeably, the…
Metta World Peace
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How to show path-connectedness of $GL(n,\mathbb{C})$

Well, I am not getting any hint how to show $GL_n(\mathbb{C})$ is path connected. So far I have thought that let $A$ be any invertible complex matrix and $I$ be the idenity matrix, I was trying to show a path from $A$ to $I$ then define…
Myshkin
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Why isn't there interest in nontrivial, nondiscrete topologies on finite groups?

A topology on a group is required to be compatible with the group structure (multiplication must be a continuous map $G\times G\to G$ and inversion must be continuous). I've only ever seen the discrete topology referenced on finite groups, however…
anon
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Useful sufficient conditions for a topological space to be the underlying space of a topological group?

Here is a question that I have had in my head for a little while and was recently reminded of. Let $X$ be a (nonempty!) topological space. What are useful (or even nontrivial) sufficient conditions for $X$ to admit a group law compatible with its…
Pete L. Clark
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Visualizing quotient groups: $\mathbb{R/Q}$

I was wondering about this. I know it is possible to visualize the quotient group $\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$ as a circle, and if you consider these as "topological groups", then this group (not topological) quotient is topologically equivalent to a…
The_Sympathizer
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The loop space of the classifying space is the group: $\Omega(BG) \cong G$

Why does delooping the classifying space of a topological group $G$ return a space homotopy equivalent to $G$. In symbols, why $\Omega(BG) \cong G$, where $G$ is a topological group and $BG$ its classifying space?
ArthurStuart
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Topology induced by the completion of a topological group

Let $G$ be an abelian topological group and let $\hat{G}$ be its completion, i.e. the group containing the equivalence classes of all Cauchy sequences of $G$. What exactly is the topology of $\hat{G}$?
Manos
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Prove that $\operatorname{SL}(n,\Bbb R)$ is connected.

Prove that $\operatorname{SL}(n, \Bbb R)$ is connected. The problem is I know only topological groups from Munkres only. Again Just started fundamental groups. So if anyone can explain to me how it is true in a lucid language and in an easy way such…
Ri-Li
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