Strong characterizing sequences of countable groups (Q2469139)

From the text: \textit{A. Biró} and \textit{V. T. Sós} [J. Number Theory 99, No. 2, 405--414 (2003; Zbl 1058.11047)] proved that for any subgroup \(G\) of \(\mathbb T\) generated freely by finitely many generators there is a sequence \(A\subset \mathbb N\) such that for all \(\beta\in\mathbb T\) we have (\(\|\cdot\|\) denotes the distance to the nearest integer) \[ \beta\in G\Rightarrow \sum_{n\in A} \| n\beta\|<\infty, \qquad \beta\not\in G \Rightarrow\limsup_{n\in A, n\to\infty} \| n\beta\|\geq 0. \] We extend this result to arbitrary countable subgroups of \(\mathbb T\). We also show that not only the sum of norms but the sum of arbitrary small powers of these norms can be kept small. Our proof combines ideas from the above article with new methods, involving a filter characterization of subgroups of \(\mathbb T\). The main result is: Theorem: Let \(G=\{\alpha_t : t\in\mathbb N\}\) be a subgroup of \(\mathbb T\). Then there exists a sequence \(A\subset\mathbb N\), such that for all \(\beta\in\mathbb T\) \[ \beta\in G\Rightarrow \forall r>0 \sum_{n\in A} \| n\beta\|^r<\infty, \qquad \beta\not\in G \Rightarrow\limsup_{n\in A, n\to\infty} \| n\beta\|\geq 1/6. \]