On orderability of topological groups (Q1074727)

Many mathematicians including S. Eilenberg, H. Herrlich, S. P. Franklin and the reviewer have considered the problem of when will a topological space be orderable. A particular case of this general problem is: When will a topological group be orderable? The results of \textit{M. Venkataraman}, the reviewer and \textit{T. Soundararajan} [Gen. Topology Appl. 2, 1-10 (1972; Zbl 0238.54029)] and \textit{P. J. Nyikos} and \textit{H.- C. Reichel} [ibid. 5, 195-204 (1975; Zbl 0302.22003)] show that a topological group is orderable as a topological space if and only if it is either separable, metrizable and O-dimensional or contains the group R of reals with usual addition and topology as an open subgroup or has a neighbourhood base of clopen subgroups at the identity which is a chain under inclusion. Nyikos and Reichel remarked in their paper that there exist topological groups which cannot be ordered simultaneously as a topological space as well as an abstract group. They left open the problem of when will a topological group be orderable simultaneously as a topological space and as an abstract group. In the paper under review, this problem is attacked. The solution is elegant and pleasing. Some results are: (1) A non-totally disconnected locally compact abelian group is orderable simultaneously if and only if it is maximally radical free and its component at identity is an open subgroup which is topologically isomorphic to the usual group of reals. (2) A topological group G is orderable simultaneously as a topological space and an abstract group if and only if the following holds: For each \(x\neq e\) in G there should be a subgroup c(x) and a group homomorphism \(f_ x\) from c(x) into the additive group of reals so that: (i) \(x\in c(x)\) and \(f_ x(x)\neq 0\) for all \(x\neq e\) in G; (ii) if \(y\in c(x)\) and \(y\neq e\) then \(c(y)\subset c(x);\) (iii) \(x,y\in G\), \(x\neq e\) and \(y\neq e\) implies \(c(x)=c(y)\) and \(f_ x=f_ y\), or \(c(x)\subsetneqq c(y)\) and \(f_ y(x)=0\), or \(c(y)\subsetneqq c(x)\) and \(f_ x(y)=0;\) (iv) for \(a\in G\) and \(x\neq e\); \(ac(x)a^{-1}=c(axa^{-1})\) and \(f_ x(t)=f_ z(ata^{-1})\) for all \(t\in c(x)\) where \(z=axa^{-1};\) (v) \(\cap_{x\neq e}c(x)=\{e\}\) and the collection \(\{\) c(x)\(|\) \(x\neq e\}\) is a neighbourhood base at e, or \(\cap_{t\in G\setminus \{e\}}c(t)\) is an open subgroup of the given group G and \(f_ x\) is an open continuous homomorphism of G into the usual topological group of reals for all \(x\in \cap_{t\in G\setminus \{e\}}c(t)\).