Openly Haar null sets and conjugacy in Polish groups (Q502975)

The paper under review is devoted to properties of translations-invariant small subsets in Polish spaces, mainly the openly Haar null sets introduced by \textit{S. Solecki} [Fundam. Math. 170, No. 1--2, 197--217 (2001; Zbl 0994.28006)]. A subset \(A\) of a Polish group \(G\) is called \textit{openly Haar null} if there is a Borel probability measure \(\mu\) on \(G\) with the following property: for every \(\varepsilon>0\) there is an open set \(U\supset A\) with \(\mu(gUh)<\varepsilon\) for every \(g,h\in G\). It is known that every openly null set is contained in a Haar null \(G_\delta\) set, and the family \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)\) of all openly null sets in \(G\) forms a translation-invariant \(\sigma\)-ideal. The following conditions are equivalent: {\parindent=6mm\begin{itemize}\item[{\(\bullet\)}] \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)\) is non-trivial; \item[{\(\bullet\)}] \(\{ e\}\in\mathcal{OHN}(G)\); \item[{\(\bullet\)}] all countable subsets of \(G\) are openly Haar null. \end{itemize}} In this case every countable subset of \(G\) is contained in a comeager Haar null set, and consequently \(G\) can be decomposed into two sets \(A\) and \(B\), where \(A\) is Haar null and \(B\) is meager. (This solves for a wide class of Polish groups the question of Darji of the existence of such decomposition.) In the paper under review the authors establish the following \textit{Criterion for Non-Trivial Openly Haar Null Ideal}. Let \(G\) be a Polish group equipped with the left uniformity \(\mathcal{U}\). A pair \((x,y)\) of points in \(G\) is \textit{distal} under the conjugation action if there exists \(\alpha\in\mathcal{U}\) such that \((gxg^{-1},gyg^{-1})\not\in\alpha\) for all \(g\in G\). For a given finite set \(F\subset G\), let \(\mathcal{D}(F)\) denote the collection of all points \(x\in G\) for which the pair \((f,x)\) is distal, for every \(f\in F\). Suppose \(\mathcal{D}(F)\) is dense in \(G\) for every finite subset \(F\subset G\). Then \(\{ e\}\) is openly Haar null in \(G\). This assumption is satisfied by the wide class of Polish groups \(G\), in particular: uncountable and TSI groups (that is, \(G\) admits a compatible two-sided invariant metric); \(S_\infty\) - the group of permutations of \(\omega\); \(\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{Q},\leq)\) - the group of order preserving self-bijections of the rationals, with the topology of pointwise convergence on \(\mathbb{Q}\) viewed as discrete; \(\mathcal{U(R)}\) - the unitary group of a von Neumann algebra \(\mathcal{R}\) on a separable infinite-dimensional complex Hilbert space \(\mathcal{H}\) with the strong operator topology. For some groups \(G\) the ideal \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)\) is trivial. A Polish group is \textit{amorphous} if for every compact subset \(K\subset G\) and every nonempty open subset \(U\subset G\), there are \(g,h\in G\) with \(gKh\subset U\). For example, the group \(\mathrm{Homeo}_+[01]\) of orientation-preserving self-homeomorphisms of the interval, endowed with the compact-open topology is amorphous. The authors prove that if \(G\) is amorphous then \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)=\{\emptyset\}\). No non-trivial locally compact group is amorphous, however there are non-trivial locally compact groups \(G\) with \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)=\{\emptyset\}\). At the end of the paper the authors correct a small error in the proof that a countable union of Haar null sets is Haar null in any Polish group, see [\textit{J. Mycielski}, Ulam Q. 1, No. 3, 30--37 (1992; Zbl 0846.28006)], and use the same arguments for showing that \(\mathcal{OHN}(G)\) is closed onto countable unions.