Universal abelian groups (Q1905775)

Given a class of groups \(K\) (always abelian) and a cardinal \(\lambda\), a group \(G\) in \(K\) is called (purely) universal for \(K\) in \(\lambda\) if \(|G|=\lambda\) and every \(H\in K\) with \(|H|\leq \lambda\) is isomorphic to a (pure) subgroup of \(G\). Plainly, universal groups can always be found among the divisible groups, but under some natural restrictions, set theoretic problems arise. The main set theoretic tool used in this paper is a club guessing sequence. If \(\lambda\) is a cardinal and \(S\subseteq \lambda\) is a stationary set, a sequence \(\langle c_\delta: \delta\in S\rangle\) with \(c_\delta \subseteq \delta\) and \(\delta=\sup c_\delta\) for every \(\delta\) is called a club guessing sequence if for every closed unbounded set \(E\subseteq \lambda\), the set \(\{c_\delta: \delta\in E\}\) is a stationary subset of \(\lambda\). The authors begin by defining group invariants relative to club guessing sequences and then construct groups with prescribed demands on their invariants. This together with standard abelian group machineary produces: (3.1) If \(\lambda\) is an infinite cardinal, then there is no universal reduced \(p\)-group in \(\lambda\). (3.2) If \(\lambda=\lambda^{\aleph_0}\), then there is a purely universal separable \(p\)-group in \(\lambda\). (3.3) If \(\lambda\) is regular and there is some \(\mu\) such that \(\mu^+< \lambda< \mu^{\aleph_0}\), then there is no purely universal separable \(p\)-group in \(\lambda\). (3.5) If \(\lambda=\lambda^{\aleph_0}\geq 2^{\aleph_0}\), then there is a universal reduced torsion-free group in \(\lambda\). Some additional results on torsion-free groups are obtained using the notion of type.