The Pontryagin duality of sequential limits of topological Abelian groups (Q2570167)

Pontryagin duality relates a topological group \(G\) to its \textit{dual} group \(G^{\;\widehat{\,}}\), i.e., to the topological group of continuous homomorphisms of \(G\) into the multiplicative group \(\mathbb{T}=\{z\in \mathbb{C}\colon | z| =1\}\) with the topology of uniform convergence on compact subsets of \(G\). The Pontryagin-van Kampen theorem establishes that the natural homomorphism \(\eta_G\colon G \to G^{\;\widehat{\,}\; \; \widehat{\,}}\) is a topological isomorphism for every locally compact abelian (LCA) group and thus that \(G^{\;\widehat{\,}}\) completely determines \(G\). A topological group \(G\) with this property is usually called \textit{reflexive}. The Pontryagin-van Kampen theorem was extended by \textit{S. Kaplan} [Duke Math. J. 17, 419-435 (1950; Zbl 0041.36101)] to direct and inverse sequential limits of LCA groups. Kaplan's extension was based on the isomorphisms \((\lim_{\rightarrow} G_n)^{\;\widehat{\,}}\cong \lim_{\leftarrow} G_n^{\;\widehat{\,}}\) and \((\lim_{\leftarrow} G_n)^{\;\widehat{\,}}\cong \lim_{\rightarrow} G_n^{\;\widehat{\,}}\) for sequences \((G_n)_n\) of LCA groups. The object of the present paper is to extend these isomorphisms to other sequences of topological groups. Following a categorical approach, the authors first prove that \((\lim_{\rightarrow} G_n)^{\;\widehat{\,}}\cong \lim_{\leftarrow} G_n^{\;\widehat{\,}}\) for every sequence \((G_n)_n\) of topological groups that are \(k_\omega\)-spaces (a topological space \(X\) is a \(k_\omega\)-space if there is an increasing sequence of compact spaces \((K_m)_m\) with \(X=\cup_m K_m\) such that a subset \(F\subset X\) is closed in \(X\) if and only if \(F\cap K_m\) is closed in \(K_m\) for every \(m\)). To obtain the other isomorphism the authors have to restrict their direct limits from the category of topological Abelian groups to the category of locally quasi-convex groups. The category of locally quasi-convex groups is a natural one for group duality, as the dual of an Abelian topological group is always locally quasi-convex. Regarding direct limits as defined in this category, the authors show that \((\lim_{\leftarrow} G_n)^{\;\widehat{\,}}\cong \lim_{\rightarrow} G_n^{\;\widehat{\,}}\) for every sequence of metrizable reflexive groups. With these isomorphisms in hand the authors prove that the inverse limit \(\lim_{\leftarrow} G_n\) of a sequence \(\{G_n,f_{m}^{n}\}\) (\(f_{m}^{n}\colon G_m\to G_n\)) of metrizable, reflexive groups such that all \(f_m^n\) are onto is reflexive as well (this also follows from the results of the reviewer [Houston J. Math. 26, 315--334 (2000; Zbl 0978.22001)]) and that the direct limit \(\lim_{\rightarrow} G_n\) of a sequence \(\{G_n,f_{n}^m\}\) (\(f_{n}^m\colon G_n\to G_m\)) of reflexive, \(k_\omega\) groups with \(f_{n}^m\) injective and \(f_{n}^m(G_n)\) dually embedded in \(G_m\) is again reflexive. This applies in particular to the direct sum of any countable family of \(k_\omega\), nuclear groups.