More on convergent sequences in free topological groups (Q388010)

Every Tychonoff space~\(X\) is a~closed subspace of both the free abelian topological group \(A(X)\) and the free topological group \(F(X)\). Recently, Arhangl'skii asked whether the existence of an infinite compact set in \(A(X)\) or \(F(X)\) implies the existence of an infinite compact set in~\(X\). The author answers this question affirmatively in the special case when \(X\)~is a~topological group and he also shows that if every countable discrete subset of~\(X\) is \(C^*\)-embedded, then \(A(X)\) and \(F(X)\) do not contain non-trivial convergent sequences. In the general case the author answers the Arhangl'skii's question in the negative. For every infinite cardinal \(\tau\) with \(\tau^\omega=\tau\) he presents a~pseudocompact zero-dimensional space~\(X\) of cardinality~\(\tau\) such that all countable subsets of~\(X\) are closed and therefore all compact sets are finite but \(A(X)\) and \(F(X)\) contain the one-point compactification of a~discrete space of cardinality~\(\tau\). The author also shows that there is a~countably compact space~\(Y\) in which the compact sets are finite such that \(A(Y)\) and \(F(Y)\) contain the one-point compactification of a~discrete space of cardinality~\(2^{\mathfrak c}\) (or of any given infinite cardinality under additional set-theoretical assumptions).