Discrete groups in \(\beta \mathbb N\) (Q886302)

The universal right topological semigroup compactification \((\beta\mathbb N,+)\) of the (discrete) additive semigroup of natural numbers \((\mathbb N,+)\) has been studied for decades by several authors, including the authors of the present paper. In the paper under review they enrich the structure theory of \((\beta\mathbb N,+)\) by constructing the first examples of discrete nontrivial topological groups in \(\beta\mathbb N\). They show even more, namely that every maximal group in the minimal ideal of \((\beta\mathbb N,+)\) contains \(2^c\) copies of the discrete additive group \((\mathbb Z,+)\), and that any two of these meet only in the identity. They also prove that the same conclusion applies to copies of the free group on two, respectively, on countably many generators: Every maximal group in the minimal ideal of \((\beta\mathbb N,+)\) contains \(2^c\) copies, disjoint except at the identity, of the free group on two generators (and hence of the free group on countably many generators). The final part of the paper contains a few open problems concerning the existence of different types of groups in \(\beta\mathbb N\).