On the existence of uncountable Hopfian and co-Hopfian abelian groups (Q6584669)

A group \(G\) is called Hopfian if every onto endomorphism is an automorphism. Thus \(G\) is Hopfian if and only if it has no proper quotient isomorphic to itself. Dually, a group \(G\) is co-Hopfian if every one-to-one endomorphism is an automorphism. Thus \(G\) is co-Hopfian if it is not isomorphic to any of its proper subgroups. These groups were first studied as abelian groups by Baer in 1944 (they were called \(Q\)-groups and \(S\)-groups). They have since been studied extensively with notable results obtained by Fuchs, Beaumont and Pierce, Goldsmith, Gong, and Shelah. The current paper is only concerned with Hopfian and co-Hopfian abelian groups and all groups hereafter are assumed to be abelian. \N\NHere the authors discuss the major findings of Hopfian and co-Hopfian groups which lead them to consider three questions on the existence of Hopfian and co-Hopfian groups: (1) Can Beaumont and Pierce's result that there are no co-Hopfian \(p\)-groups of size \(\aleph_0\) or \(>2^{\aleph_0}\) be improved upon in ZFC? (2) Are there co-Hopfian groups in \textit{every} cardinality? (3) Are there absolutely Hopfian groups in every cardinality? Here an absolutely Hopfian group is a Hopfian group that remains Hopfian in every forcing extension of the universe.\N\NThese questions are addressed in the main three theorems for the paper as follows:\N\NTheorem 1.1. Suppose that \(G\) is a reduced abelian group and that \(\aleph_0 \leq |G| <2^{\aleph_0}\). If \(\mathfrak{p}>|G|\) and there is a prime \(p\) such that the \(p\)-torsion subgroup of \(G\) is infinite, then \(G\) is not co-Hopfian. In particular, there are no infinite reduced co-Hopfian \(p\)-groups \(G\) of size \(\aleph_0 \leq |G| < \mathfrak{p}\). Here \(\mathfrak{p}\) is the cardinal invariant of the continuum.\N\NTheorem 1.2. If \(2^{\aleph_0} < \lambda < \lambda^{\aleph_0}\) and \(G\) is an abelian group of cardinality \(\lambda\), then \(G\) is not co-Hopfian.\N\NTheorem 1.3. For each cardinal \(\lambda\) there is a torsion free abelian group \(G\) of cardinality \(\lambda\) which is absolutely Hopfian.