On the Mackey topology for abelian topological groups and locally convex spaces (Q314334)

For a topological group \(G\) let \(\widehat G\) denote the group of all continuous characters of \(G\). If \(\widehat G\) separates the points of \(G\), the group \(G\) is called maximally almost periodic. The class \(\mathcal{LCS}\) of all locally convex spaces and the class \(\mathcal{LQC}\) of all locally quasi-convex groups are subclasses of the class \(\mathcal{MAPA}\) of all maximally almost periodic abelian groups. Two topologies \(\tau\) and \(\nu\) on a group \(G\) are said to be compatible if \(\widehat{(G,\tau)}=\widehat{(G,\nu)}\). The finest locally convex vector space topology on a locally convex space \((E,\tau)\) compatible with \(\tau\) is called the Mackey topology on \(E\) associated with \(\tau\) and if it is equal to \(\tau\), the space \(E\) is called a Mackey space. For a class \(\mathcal G\) of topological groups and \((G,\tau)\in\mathcal G\), a topology \(\nu\) on \(G\) is called a Mackey group in \(\mathcal G\) associated with \(\tau\) if \(\nu\) is the finest topology from the class of topologies \(\mu\) on \(G\) that are compatible with \(\tau\) and \((G,\mu)\in\mathcal G\); if \(\nu\) exists, \(\tau\) is called a pre-\(\mathcal G\)-Mackey topology on \(G\). By the Mackey-Arens theorem every locally convex space is a pre-\(\mathcal{LCS}\)-Mackey group. The following general problem seems to be very natural: \textit{For a class \(\mathcal G\), describe all groups in \(\mathcal G\) that are pre-\(\mathcal G\)-Mackey}. In the paper under review under some natural conditions on the class \(\mathcal G\) the author gives a complete answer to this problem. The conditions are satisfied for the classes \(\mathcal{MAPA}\), \(\mathcal{LQC}\), and \(\mathcal{LCS}\). The answer extends some results from [\textit{M. J. Chasco} et al., Stud. Math. 132, No. 3, 257--284 (1999; Zbl 0930.46006)]. The author gives an example of a Mackey metrizable locally convex space \(E\) which is not a Mackey group in \(\mathcal{LQC}\). He also shows that a countable metrizable locally precompact group \(G\) is a Mackey group in \(\mathcal{MAPA}\) if and only if \(G\) is discrete.