Topological groups and \(C\)-embeddings (Q5946443)

This paper is a systematic study of Moscow spaces and applications to the study of topological groups. The notion of Moscow spaces was introduced by the author in [Commentat. Math. Univ. Carol. 24, 105-120 (1983; Zbl 0528.54006)]. A topological space \(X\) is called a Moscow space if the closure of every open set in \(X\) is the union of \(G_\delta\)-sets, and a topological group is called a Moscow group if it is a Moscow space as a topological space. Moscow spaces and Moscow groups have the following two remarkable properties. (1) A dense \(G_\delta\)-subspace of a Moscow space \(X\) is \(C\)-embedded in \(X\) [\textit{V. V. Uspenskij}, Mat. Sb. 180, No. 8, 1092-1118, 1151 (1989; Zbl 0684.22001); translation in Math. USSR, Sb. 67, No. 2, 555-580 (1990)]. (2) A Moscow group \(G\) is a \(PT\)-group, i.e., the group operation on \(G\) can be extended to the Dieudonné completion \(\mu G\) of \(G\) in such a way that \(\mu G\) becomes a topological group containing \(G\) as a topological subgroup [\textit{A. V. Arhangel'skii}, Moscow spaces, Pestov-Tkačenko problem, and \(C\)-embeddings, Commentat. Math. Univ. Carol. 41, No. 3, 585-595 (2000)]. It was also proved by the author that every homogeneous space having a \(G_\delta\)-dense Moscow subspace is a Moscow space. This combined with (1) implies that the equality \(\nu(G\times H)=\nu G\times\nu H\) holds for topological groups \(G\) and \(H\) provided that \(G\times H\) is a Moscow group, where \(\nu X\) denotes the Hewitt-Nachbin completion of \(X\). Along this line, the author finds many solutions to the equation \(\nu\prod\{G_\alpha:\alpha\in A\}=\prod\{\nu G_\alpha:\alpha\in A\}\) by showing that large classes of topological groups are included in the class of Moscow groups. For a class \({\mathcal P}\) of topological groups, a topological group \(G\) is said to be factorizable over \({\mathcal P}\) if for every continuous real-valued function \(f\) on \(G\) there exist a continuous homomorphism \(g\) of \(G\) into a topological group \(H\in{\mathcal P}\) and a continuous real-valued function \(h\) on \(H\) such that \(f=hg\). It was proved by \textit{M. G. Tkachenko} [Topol. Proc. 16, 201-231 (1991; Zbl 0793.22001)] that every \(R\)-factorizable group, i.e., a topological group which is factorizable over the class of separable metrizable groups, is a \(PT\)-group. As a common generalization of this and (2), the author proves that every topological group which is factorizable over the class of Moscow groups is a \(PT\)-group. An example is given showing that the class of \(R\)-factorizable groups and that of Moscow groups are incomparable. A number of related results are also proved and some open problems are formulated.