Lattices of homomorphisms and pro-Lie groups (Q340718)

The class of pro-Lie groups was introduced by \textit{K. H. Hofmann} and \textit{S. A. Morris} [The Lie theory of connected pro-Lie groups. Zürich: European Mathematical Society (2007; Zbl 1153.22006)]; among other characterizations, it can be defined as the class of all projective limits of Lie groups, or equivalently as those complete topological groups \(G\) such that every neighborhood of the identity contains a normal subgroup \(N\) such that the quotient \(G/N\) is a Lie group. The introduction of pro-Lie groups can be presented as a natural by-product of the set of results that settled Hilbert's fifth problem in the fifties of the last century; indeed, once we have this concept we can describe the classical Gleason-Yamabe theorem as the fact that every almost connected, locally compact group is a pro-Lie group. (A topological group is said to be almost connected if its quotient by the connected component of the identity is compact). The class of pro-Lie groups includes all compact groups and all locally compact abelian groups as well. Pro-Lie groups allow for a satisfactory Lie theory as well as open-mapping and isomorphy theorems, among other key features. This paper contains a remarkable amount of information on this class from the point of view of general topology. The authors prove (Theorems 2.1 and 2.10) that whenever a topological group \(H\) is a continuous homomorphic image of an almost connected pro-Lie group, the Hewitt-Nachbin completion \(\upsilon H\) of \(H\) is a topological group containing \(H\) as a dense subgroup, and both \(H\) and \(\upsilon H\) have the following properties: {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize}\item[{\(\bullet\)}] \({\mathbb R}\)-factorizable (a topological group \(X\) is called \({\mathbb R}\)-factorizable if for every continuous function \(f:X\to {\mathbb R}\) there exists a continuous homomorphism \(\pi:X\to K\) onto a second-countable topological group \(K\) and a continuous function \(h:K\to {\mathbb R}\) such that \(f=h \circ \pi\)). \item[{\(\bullet\)}] \(\omega\)-cellular (every family of \(G_{\delta}\)-sets contains a countable subfamily whose union is dense in the union of the initial family). \item[{\(\bullet\)}] the closure of the union of any family of \(G_{\delta}\) sets is a zero-set. \end{itemize}} In Corollary 4.2 the authors show that actually any (topological group) extension of an almost connected pro-Lie group by a compact group has these same properties. Finally, in Theorem 5.2 it is shown that in any almost connected pro-Lie group, the closure and the sequential closure of any set expressable as a union of \(G_{\delta}\)-subsets coincide. The proofs are quite involved and rely heavily on the concept of a (strong) \(\sigma\)-lattice of homomorphisms, as well as recent results and definitions by the second-named author.