Free compact groups. II: The center (Q1099259)

The rôle and the structure of the center Z of the free compact group FX on a compact space X are studied in the second paper of the sequence devoted to free compact groups [for Part I see ibid. 23, 41-64 (1986; Zbl 0589.22003)]. It is shown that Z is contained in the identity component \((FX)_ 0\); the restriction of the quotient homomorphism z: FX\(\to FX/F'X\) to \(Z_ 0\), the component of the identity in Z, is the projective cover of the free abelian compact group \(F_ aX=FX/F'X\), where F'X is the closure of the commutator subgroup of FX. Conditions on X are found which imply that FX is the direct product of its commutator subgroup and a free compact abelian group.