Approach groups (Q5928724)

The first author earlier introduced the category of approach spaces with contractions, which contains nicely embedded categories of topological spaces, uniform spaces and metric spaces [\textit{R. Lowen}, Approach spaces: the missing link in the topological-uniformity-metric triad (1997; Zbl 0891.54001)]. An approach space is a pair \((X,\delta)\), where \(\delta\) is a real-valued function on \(X\times \exp X\) measuring a ``distance'' from points to subsets and satisfying certain natural axioms. Morphisms \(f:(X,\delta)\to (X',\delta')\) are maps \(f:X\to X'\) having the property \(\delta'(f(x),f(A))\leq\delta(X,A)\) for all \(x\in X, A\subset X\), i.e., contractions. The authors use approach spaces to generalize the notion of topological group. They introduce approach groups and show that different well-known examples of topological groups can be equipped with a natural metric (or gauge metrics) such that addition is contractive. Furthermore, approach groups share some of the important features with topological groups. For instance, every approach group allows for a natural uniformization. Other basic notions, such as approach semigroups or approach convergence groups, are also treated in this paper. Among other results, they prove: (1) The collection \(M(X)\) of all probability measures on a compact group \(X\) with the convolution product and equipped with the weak approach structure is an approach semigroup; (2) with every approach convergence group, there is associated an approach uniform convergence space in a natural way that generalizes the uniformization of approach groups.