On weakly (noncommutatively) slender groups (Q2332346)

This paper introduces two notions, that of \textit{weakly slender} group and \textit{weakly non-commutatively slender} group (or \textit{weakly n-slender} for short). These two definitions are meant to generalize, respectively, the classical notion of \textit{slenderness} for abelian groups and Katsuya Eda's notion of \textit{non-commutatively slender} group [\textit{K. Eda}, J. Algebra 148, No. 1, 243--263 (1992; Zbl 0779.20012)]. Let $\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}$ denote the Specker group and let $e_n$ be the element whose $n$-th coordinate is $1$ and which is $0$ in all other coordinates. The direct summand $\bigoplus_{\mathbb{N}}\mathbb{Z}$ is the subgroup of $\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}$ generated by $\{e_n\mid n\in\mathbb{N}\}$. An abelian group $A$ is \textit{slender} if every homomorphism $h:\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}\to A$ factors as the composition of the projection $\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}\to\prod_{F}\mathbb{Z}$ and a homomorphism $\prod_{F}\mathbb{Z}\to A$ for some finite set $F\subseteq \mathbb{N}$. The authors define an abelian group $A$ to be \textit{weakly slender} if for every homomorphism $h:\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}\to A$ where $h(e_n)=a$ for some $a\in A$, we have $h=0$. The authors prove several basic characaterizations of the weakly slender property. It appears that by making this definition the authors have resdicovered the classical notion of a \textit{cotorsion-free group}. It is well-known that an abelian group $A$ is cotorsion-free if and only if every homomorphism $\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}/\bigoplus_{\mathbb{N}}\mathbb{Z}\to A$ is trivial. This makes it easy to see that every weakly slender group is cotorsion-free. To show that every cotorsion-free group is weakly slender, one may combine Lemma 2.3 in the current paper with Remark 5.3 from [\textit{K. Eda} and \textit{H. Fischer}, Topology Appl. 214, 21--34 (2016; Zbl 1396.20062)]. Hence, the following holds: an abelian group $A$ is cotorsion-free if and only if $A$ is weakly slender. The non-commutative notion introduced in this paper is the following: a group $G$ is \textit{weakly n-slender} if every homomorphism $h:\pi_1(\mathbb{HA})\to G$ from the fundamental group of the harmonic archipelago to $G$ is trivial. This is a very natural definition, which also falls within the scope of [loc. cit.] as the property ``$G$ is \textit{Spanier-trivial relative to} $\mathbb{HA}$.'' As laid out in [loc. cit.], there are many potential non-commutative analogues of the cotorison-free property. The authors of the paper under review explain how this property is one such analogue by proving that an abelian group $A$ is weakly n-slender if and only if $A$ is slender. The reviewer notes that one can replace the harmonic archipelago with the Griffiths twin cone or any other space with first singular homology isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^{\mathbb{N}}/\bigoplus_{\mathbb{N}}\mathbb{Z}$ and obtain a potentially different non-commutative analogue of the cotorsion-free property.