The Ext group in the categories of topological abelian groups and topological vector spaces (Q2400876)

An extension of an abelian topological group \(G\) by an abelian topological group \(H\) is a short exact sequence \(E:0\rightarrow H @>i>> X @>\pi >> G\rightarrow 0\), where both \(i\) and \(\pi\) are continuous homomorphisms onto their images. The equivalence of two extensions is defined in a natural way. The set of all equivalence classes is denoted by Ext\((G,H)\), which is a group with the Baer sum. If every extension is equivalent to the trivial extension \(0\rightarrow H\rightarrow H\times G\rightarrow G\rightarrow 0\) the group Ext\((G,H)\) is trivial. The author focuses on the behavior of Ext under taking dense subgroups, open subgroups, products and countable coproducts. He obtains the following interesting results that generalize some known results in the category of locally compact abelian (LCA) groups. {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[1)] If \(H\) is Čech-complete and \(D\) is a dense subgroup of \(G\), then Ext\((D,H)\cong \text{Ext}(G,H)\). \end{itemize}} As a consequence the characterization of Theorem 3.5 of [\textit{R. O. Pulp} and \textit{P. A. Griffith}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 154, 341--356, 357--363 (1971; Zbl 0216.34302)] for \(G\) an LCA group is generalized to \(G\) a locally precompact group. {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[2)] If \(H\) is divisible and \(A\) is an open subgroup of \(G\), then Ext\((A,H)\cong \text{Ext}(G,H)\). \end{itemize}} In the case that \(H\) is Čech-complete, the converse implication ``if Ext\((\rho G,H)=0\) then Ext\((G,H)=0\)'' (cf. [\textit{H. J. Bello} et al., J. Math. Anal. Appl. 435, No. 2, 1607--1622 (2016; Zbl 1329.22003)]), where \(\rho G\) is the completion of \(G\), is obtained. As a particular case, Ext\((A,\mathbb{T})=0\) if and only if Ext\((G,\mathbb{T})=0\) generalizes Corollary 14 of [\textit{H. J. Bello} et al., Abstr. Appl. Anal. 2013, Article ID 590159, 9 p. (2013; Zbl 1295.22009)]. {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[3)] If \(\{H_\alpha :\alpha<\kappa\}\) is a family of topological abelian groups, then Ext\((G,\prod_{\alpha<\kappa}H_\alpha)\cong\prod_{\alpha<\kappa} \)Ext\((G,H_\alpha)\). \end{itemize}} Characterizations of Ext\((G,H)=0\) are done for all \(H\) product of divisible \(\sigma\)-compact LCA groups that generalize Theorem 2.7 of [\textit{H. Sahleh} and \textit{A. A. Alijani}, Int. J. Group Theory 3, No. 3, 39--45 (2014; Zbl 1332.22004)] to locally precompact abelian groups \(G\). Moreover, if \(G\) is torsion and \(H\) is a product of divisible torsion free LCA groups, then Ext\((G,H)=0\). {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[4)] If \(\{G_\alpha :\alpha<\omega\}\) is a family of topological abelian groups, then Ext\((\bigoplus_{\alpha<\omega}G_\alpha,H)\cong\prod_{\alpha<\omega} \)Ext\((G_\alpha,H)\). \end{itemize}} The author leaves open the uncountable case in this general setting. An extension of topological vector spaces is an extension of topological groups \(E:0\rightarrow H @>i>> X @>{\pi}>> G\rightarrow 0\) where \(G\) and \(H\) are vector spaces and \(i\) and \(\pi\) are also linear maps. The set of all equivalence classes is denoted by \(\text{Ext}_{\text{TVS}}(G,H)\). Results similar to 1) and 2) are achieved. Finally, conditions for an extension of topological groups \(E\), where \(G\) and \(H\) are vector spaces, to become an extension of topological vector spaces and to define in \(X\) a compatible vector space structure are determined. {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[5)] If \(H\) is Fréchet and \(G\) is metrizable, then \(\text{Ext}_{\text{TVS}}(G,H)\cong \text{Ext}(G,H)\). \item[6)] If \(H\) is complete locally bounded and \(G\) is locally bounded, then \(\text{Ext}_{\text{TVS}}(G,H)\cong \text{Ext}(G,H)\). \end{itemize}}