On the amalgamation basis of the category of compact groups (Q1086366)

A compact group \(A\) (meaning a compact Hausdorff topological group) is said to belong to the amalgamation basis of the category of compact groups if, for every way of embedding \(A\) into two compact groups \(B\) and \(C\), there exist embeddings of \(B\) and \(C\) into a common compact group \(D\) agreeing on the image of \(A\). [Results on amalgamation in a large number of other categories can be found in \textit{E. W. Kiss}, \textit{L. Márki}, \textit{P. Pröhle} and \textit{W. Tholen}, Stud. Sci. Math. Hung. 18, 79--141 (1983; Zbl 0549.08001).] It is shown that the amalgamation basis of the category of compact groups (a) coincides with the amalgamation basis of the category of compact Lie groups (not necessarily connected), (b) contains all finite discrete groups, and (c) does not contain any Lie group \(A\) which has a closed normal subgroup of positive dimension and codimension, nor even a Lie group which has a ``germ'' of such a subgroup, i.e., such that the adjoint representation of \(A\) (including the action of the nonidentity components) on its tangent space at the identity is real reducible. The proof of (a) applies a lemma on cofinal subsemilattices of lattices [\textit{G. M. Bergman} and \textit{I. Kaplansky}, Order 1, 259--263 (1985; Zbl 0559.06001)] to the lattice of closed normal subgroups \(N\subseteq A\) such that \(A/N\) is a Lie group. Statement (b) is proved from a representation-theoretic result [\textit{D. Handelman}, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 302, 459--462 (1986; Zbl 0606.22010)]; (c) is obtained by showing that such an \(A\) admits embeddings into two simple compact Lie groups \(B\) and \(C\) whose unique (up to scalars) biinvariant Riemannian metrics induce different metrics on \(A\). The amalgamation bases of the categories of totally disconnected compact groups, connected compact groups, and connected compact Lie groups, are shown to consist of the intersections of these categories with the amalgamation basis of the category of compact Lie groups. Some variants of the concept of amalgamation basis are also examined.