On a cardinal group invariant related to decompositions of Abelian groups (Q1290806)

Let \(G\) be an abelian group. Recall that \(\nu(G)\) is the minimal cardinality of a covering \(\mathcal U\) of \(G\) such that the intersection \(U\cap(2g-U)\) is finite for any \(g\in G\) and \(U\in{\mathcal U}\). This cardinal was introduced by Protasov and was calculated for any abelian group \(G\). The author introduces a new cardinal invariant \(\chi(G)\) for \(G\) in the following way. A subset \(A\) of \(G\) is called essential if for any covering \(\mathcal U\) of \(G\) of cardinality \(|{\mathcal U}|<\nu(G)\) there exists a point \(a\in A\) and a set \(U\in{\mathcal U}\) such that the intersection \(U\cap(2a-U)\) is infinite. The cardinal \(\chi(G)\) is defined as the minimal cardinality of an essential subset of \(G\). It is shown that a group \(G\) of cardinality less or equal to the continuum satisfies \(\chi(G)=1\) if and only if \(G\) is finite. Moreover, if such a group is infinitely generated then \(\chi(G)=\aleph_0\) or \(\chi(G)=1\) (sufficient and necessary conditions are found). Furthermore, the author proves that for finitely generated groups \(G\) the equality \(\chi(G)=\chi(\mathbb{Z}^{r_0(G)})\) holds and thus the calculation of \(\chi(G)\) reduces to the calculation of \(\chi(\mathbb{Z}^n)\) for some \(n\). In case \(n\leq 3\) it is proved that \(\chi(\mathbb{Z}^n)=n(n+1)/2\) and the structure of essential subsets of \(\mathbb{Z}^n\) (\(n\leq 3\)) is completely described. For \(n\geq 4\) we have the inequality \(n(n+1)/2\leq\chi(\mathbb{Z}^n)\leq 2^n\). Finally, the relations \(\chi(H)\leq\chi(G)\) and \(\chi(G/H)\leq\chi(G)\) are proved for \(H\) a subgroup of some abelian group \(G\) of cardinality less or equal to the continuum which has only finitely many elements of order \(2\). At the end many interesting questions are stated on the size of essential subsets, the existence of minimal essential subsets and the preservation of being essential under the canonical epimorphism \(G\to G/H\).