Some properties of the automorphism group of a transcendental field extension (Q1209832)

This paper extends results from a previous paper by the author that developed a Galois theory for fields which are algebraically closed and have nonzero transcendence degree over their prime subfields. The theory involved a type of subgroup of \(\Aut_ P\Omega\) that is called tight. It was shown that the tight subgroups of \(\Aut_ P\Omega\) are in bijective correspondence with the perfect subfields of \(\Omega\). In this paper, the properties of tight subgroups are examined. It is shown that all compact subgroups are tight, and all tight subgroups are closed. It is also determined when an arbitrary closed subgroup is tight, and when an arbitrary tight subgroup is compact if the group \(\Aut_ P\Omega\) is locally compact. Also, the maximal compact subgroups of \(\Aut_ p\Omega\) are characterized in terms of the tight subgroups of \(\Aut_ P\Omega\).