Almost \(p\)-compact groups (Q429350)

It has been shown by \textit{E. K. van Douwen} [``The product of two countably compact topological groups'', Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 262, 417--427 (1980; Zbl 0453.54006)] that countable compactness is not a productive property in the class of topological groups under Martin's Axiom. Assuming Martin's Axiom for countable posets, \textit{K.~P. Hart} and \textit{J. van Mill} [``A countably compact topological group \(H\) such that \(H\times H\) is not countably compact'', ibid. 323, No. 2, 811--821 (1991; Zbl 0770.54037)] have given the first example of a countably compact group whose square is not. This suggested to Comfort the following question: for which cardinals \(\kappa\) there exists a topological group \(G\) such that \(G^\alpha\) is countably compact, for each \(\alpha<\kappa\), but \(G^\kappa\) is not? A complete solution to Comfort's question has been given by \textit{A.~H. Tomita} [``A solution to Comfort's question on the countable compactness of powers of a topological group'', Fundam. Math. 186, No. 1, 1--24 (2005; Zbl 1084.54003)]. In this paper the authors obtain some examples related to Comfort's question that are almost \(p\)-compact for cardinals greater than 2 (see in particular Sections 3 and 4). Among the rest, they prove that, if \(p\) is a selective ultrafilter, then for each cardinal \(\alpha \leq \omega_1\) there exists a topological group \(G\) such that \(G^\beta\) is almost \(p\)-compact (in particular, countably compact) for \(\beta<\alpha\) but \(G^\alpha\) is not countably compact; moreover, under Martin's Axiom the same conclusion holds for every \(\alpha<\mathfrak c\). Other recent papers strictly related to this one are [\textit{A.~H. Tomita}, ``Square of countably compact groups without non-trivial convergent sequences'', Topology Appl. 153, No. 1, 107--122 (2005; Zbl 1083.54024)] and \textit{S. Garcia-Ferreira, A.~H. Tomita} and \textit{S. Watson} [``Countably compact groups from a selective ultrafilter'', Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 133, No. 3, 937--943 (2005; Zbl 1062.54037)].