Asymptotic dimension and small subsets in locally compact topological groups (Q2248898)

A coarse space \((X,\mathcal{E})\) consists of a set \(X\) and a collection \(\mathcal{E}\) of symmetric diagonal containing subsets of \(X\times X\) (called entourages) meeting criteria somewhat like those for the entourages in a uniformity. The authors state that each metric space and each topological group has an induced coarse structure, the latter called the left coarse structure. The notions large sets and small sets for coarse spaces were introduced in [\textit{A. Bella} and \textit{V. I. Malykhin}, Quest. Answers Gen. Topology 19, No. 1, 81--94 (2001; Zbl 1023.22001)]. The definitions are given herein on page 384. It is noted that the family \(\mathcal{S}(X)\) of small subsets of a coarse space \((X,\mathcal{E})\) is an ideal (see page 384) in \(\mathcal{P}(X)\), the power set of \(X\). The notation \(\mathrm{asdim}(X)\) will be used for the asymptotic dimension of \((X,\mathcal{E})\); this is defined in Definition 1.1. It is remarked that \(\mathrm{asdim}\mathbb{R}^n=n\). By \(\mathcal{D}_<(X)\) is meant \(\{A\subset X\,|\, \mathrm{asdim}(A)<\mathrm{asdim}(X)\}\), which is also an ideal in \(\mathcal{P}(X)\). The main result of the paper is: { Theorem 1.2.} For every \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), the ideal \(\mathcal{S}(X)\) of small subsets in the space \(X=\mathbb{R}^n\) coincides with the ideal \(\mathcal{D}_<(X)\). Two other major results go as follows. For a coarse space \(X\), \(\mathcal{S}=\mathcal{D}_<(X)\) if \(X\) is coarsely equivalent to some \(\mathbb{R}^n\). The other is that for a locally compact abelian group \(X\), \(\mathcal{S}(X)=\mathcal{D}_<(X)\) if and only if \(X\) is compactly generated.