Balanced and functionally balanced \(P\)-groups (Q1748098)

A topological group \(G\) is \textit{balanced} if its left and right uniformities coincide. Moreover, \(G\) is \textit{functionally balanced} if every bounded left-uniformly continuous real-valued function on \(G\) is right-uniformly continuous, and \(G\) is \textit{strongly functionally balanced} if every left-uniformly continuous real-valued function on \(G\) is right-uniformly continuous. Clearly, every strongly functionally balanced group is functionally bounded. \textit{G. Itzkowitz} in [Lect. Notes Pure Appl. Math. 134, 155--178 (1991; Zbl 0770.54038)] raised the problem of whether every strongly functionally balanced group is balanced; a positive answer is known in several cases. In the present paper Itzkowitz's problem is taken into account in the class of \textit{\(P\)-groups}, topological groups in which every intersection of countably many open sets is open. First of all, it is proved that for a \(P\)-group, it is equivalent to be strongly functionally balanced and functionally balanced. This gives a positive answer for \(P\)-groups to Question 2 in [\textit{W. Roelcke} and \textit{S. Dierolf}, Uniform structures on topological groups and their quotients. New York etc.: McGraw-Hill International Book Company (1981; Zbl 0489.22001)]. Recall that, for a cardinal \(\kappa\geq\aleph_0\), a topological group \(G\) is called \textit{\(\kappa\)-bounded} if for every neighborhood \(U\) of \(e\) in \(G\) there exists a subset \(F\) of \(G\) with \(|F|\leq\kappa\) such that \(G=FU\). In case the \(P\)-group \(G\) is also \(\mathfrak c\)-bounded, \(G\) is proved to be (strongly) functionally balanced if and only if it is balanced. Recalling that \(P\)-groups are necessarily non-Archimedean, the latter result has to be compared with Theorem 2 in [\textit{S. Hernández}, Topol. Proc. 25(Spring), 181--188 (2000; Zbl 1006.22002)] stating that a non-Archimedean \(\aleph_0\)-bounded group is strongly functionally balanced if and only if it is balanced. A uniform space \((X,\mathcal U)\) is a \textit{uniform \(P\)-space} if every intersection of countably many elements of \(\mathcal U\) is in \(\mathcal U\). The uniform free topological group \(F(X,\mathcal U)\) of a uniform \(P\)-space \((X,\mathcal U)\) is shown to be a \(P\)-group. Moreover, for every \(n\in\mathbb N\) denote by \(B_n\) the subset of \(F(X,\mathcal U)\) of all words of length \(\leq n\); then \(F(X,\mathcal U)\) is balanced (respectively, strongly functionally balanced) precisely when \(B_n\) is balanced (respectively, strongly functionally balanced) for every \(n\in\mathbb N\).