Examples of non-dual subgroups of the Baer-Specker group (Q2834121)

Three results concerning dual groups of subgroups of the Baer-Specker group are proved, two of which solve open problems from the book [\textit{P. C. Eklof} and \textit{A. H. Mekler}, Almost free modules. Set-theoretic methods. Revised ed. Amsterdam: North-Holland (2002; Zbl 1054.20037)]. The main results read as follows.NEWLINENEWLINETheorem 2.1 There exists a pure subgroup \(H\subset \mathbb{Z} ^{\aleph _{0}}\) that is strongly non-reflexive but not a dual group.NEWLINENEWLINETheorem 2.2 It is consistent with ZFC that there is a pure subgroup \(A\subset \mathbb{Z}^{\aleph _{0}}\) of size \(\aleph _{1}\) that is not a dual group and the continuum \(2^{\aleph _{0}}\) is arbitrary large. In particular, forcing with Fin(\(\omega _{1}, 2\)) yields that there is such an \(A\).NEWLINENEWLINETheorem 2.3 It is consistent with ZFC that there is a pure subgroup \(A\subset \mathbb{Z}^{\aleph _{0}}\) such that for all \(n\in \mathbb{N}\) and all groups \(H\) we have \(A^{n\ast }\ncong H^{(n+1)\ast }\). In particular, it follows from MA (\(\sigma \)-centered) that there is such an \(A\) preserving this property in every extension of the universe by forcing with \(\mathrm{Fin}(\kappa , 2)\) for every \(\kappa \).