On the algebraic structure of the unitary group (Q2382024)

Let \(G\) be a group. Recall that \(G\) has \textit{uncountable cofinality} if, whenever \(G=\bigcup_{n\in {\mathbb N}}G_n\) for an increasing sequence of subgroups \(G_n\) of \(G\), then \(G_n=G\) for some \(n\), and \(G\) is \textit{Cayley bounded} if every Cayley graph for \(G\) is bounded or, equivalently, for any symmetric generating \(E\subset G\) with \(1\in E,\) there exists \(n\in {\mathbb N}\) with \(G=E^n.\) The groups simultaneously satisfying both conditions have been given different names in the literature: strongly bounded groups, groups with strong uncountable cofinality, groups with Bergman property. The last name (which has also been used as a synonym of ``Cayley bounded groups'') acknowledges the emergence of this property in \textit{G. M. Bergman}'s work on the structure of permutation groups [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 38, 429--440 (2006; Zbl 1103.20003)]. Groups with strong uncountable cofinality can be characterized in a number of useful ways: they are exactly those groups without unbounded left-invariant metrics, or those groups which, when acting on a metric space by isometries, generate only bounded orbits. The main result in this paper (Theorem 1) asserts that the unitary group \({\mathbb U}\) of the separable, infinite-dimensional, complex Hilbert space has strong uncountable cofinality. Actually the authors prove a stronger result: there exists \(k\in {\mathbb N} \) \((k\leq 200)\) such that, whenever \({\mathbb U}=\bigcup_{n\in {\mathbb N}}E_n\) for an increasing sequence of subsets \(E_n\) of \(U\), then \(U=E_n^k\) for some \(n\). The proof uses some machinery from operator theory, including a theorem by \textit{A. Brown} and \textit{C. Pearcy} on multiplicative commutators [Can. J. Math. 18, 737--749 (1966; Zbl 0191.41904)]. Some interesting related problems are briefly dealt with at the end of the paper. The authors show that ``unitary''{} may be replaced by ``orthogonal''{} in their main result, and discuss examples of Banach spaces \(X\) such that a similar property holds, or fails, for the groups of invertible isometries of \(X\).