Exercise TG.1

Let H denote a group that is also a topological space satisfying the T1 axiom. Show that H is a topological group if and only if the map of H × H into H sending x × y to x y1 is continuous.

Answers

For this section, recall that a group is a set G together with some operation that satisfies the following properties, called the group axioms:

(1)
(Closure) For all a,b G, the result a b is also in G.
(2)
(Associativity) (a b) c = a (b c) for all a,b,c G.
(3)
(Identity Element) There is an element e G such that a e = e a = a for all a G, which is called an identity element.
(4)
(Inverse Element) For every a G, there is an element b G such that a b = b a = e, where e is the identity element. This b is called an inverse element of a.

It is easy to show directly from these axioms that the identity element of a group is unique, and so we refer to the identity element. Similarly, if a G, then its inverse element is also unique, and is usually denoted by a1.

Lemma 1. In any group G the inverse element of an inverse element is the element itself, i.e. (x1)1 = x for any x G.

Proof. Consider any x in the group G with operation and identity element e, and let y = (x1)1. Then we have of course that y x1 = e since y is the inverse of x1. Since we of course also have x x1 = e since x1 is the inverse of x, it has to be that y = x because the inverse of x1 must be unique. Therefore of course (x1)1 = y = x as desired. □

Main Problem.

Proof. () First suppose that H is a topological group. Then f : H H defined by f(x) = x1 and g : H × H H defined by g(x × y) = x y are both continuous. Define h : H × H H by

h = g (iH × f),

where of course iH is the identity function on H, and we have defined the function iH × f : H × H H × H as in Exercise 18.10.

Now, we know that both iH and f are continuous so that iH × f is continuous by Exercise 18.10. It then follows that g (iH × f) = h is continuous by Theorem 18.2 part (c) since g is also continuous. Now, for any x × y H × H, we have

h(x × y) = (g (iH × f))(x × y) = g((iH × f)(x × y)) = g(iH(x) × f(y)) = g(x × y1) = x y1.

Since we have shown that h is continuous, this shows the desired result.

() Now again define h : H × H H by h(x × y) = x y1, and suppose that h is continuous. Then h is continuous in each variable separately by Exercise 18.11. So, if we let e be the unique identity element of H, then we have that

h(e × x) = e x1 = x1

is continuous for any x. Similarly, for any x,y H, we have that (y1)1 = y by Lemma 1 so that

h(x × y1) = x (y1)1 = x y

must also be continuous. □

Exercise 1. 2 Show that the following are topological groups:

(a)
(,+)
(b)
(,+)
(c)
(p,)
(d)
(S1,), where we take S1 to be the space of all complex numbers z for which |z| = 1.
(e)
The general linear group GL(n), under the operation of matrix multiplication. (GL(n) is the set of all nonsingular n by n matrices, topologized by considering it as a subset of euclidean space of dimension n2 in the obvious way.)

Lemma 2. Any discrete topology satisfies the T1 axiom.

Proof. Suppose that X is a set with the discrete topology and C is a finite point set. Then X C is clearly still a subset of X and so is open since X is discrete. This shows by definition that C is closed. In fact by this same argument any subset of X is both open and closed. □

Lemma 3. If Y and Y are sets both with discrete topologies, then X × Y is also the discrete topology.

Proof. It suffices to show that the subset of X × Y containing a single arbitrary element is open, since clearly any other subset is the union of such single-element open subsets and is therefore also open by the definition of a topology. So consider any (x,y) X × Y and the subset {(x,y)} X × Y . Then clearly {(x,y)} = {x} × {y}, which is a basis element of X × Y and therefore open by the definition of a product topology since both {x} and {y} are open in X and Y , respectively, since they are discrete. □

Lemma 4. If X and Y are topological spaces and X has the discrete topology then any function f : X Y is continuous.

Proof. This is fairly obvious since, for any open subset V of Y , of course f1(V ) is a subset of X and so is open since X is discrete. □

Main Problem.

(a)

Proof. First we must show that (,+) is even a group. Clearly a + b is an integer when a and b are so that the closure axiom is satisfied. Also, we know that integer addition is associative. We clearly have that 0 and that a + 0 = a for any a so that 0 is the identity element of (,+). Lastly, for any a , we have that a and that a + (a) = a a = 0 so that clearly a is the inverse of a. This shows that (,+) is in fact a group.

To show that it is a topological group, we first note that clearly has the discrete topology when considered both an order topology or as a subspace of , for similar reason as discussed in Example 3 of §14. Thus satisfies the T1 axiom by Lemma 2 since it is discrete. Also X × X is the discrete topology by Lemma 3 . Thus the function f defined by f(x × y) = x + y1 = x + (y) = x y is a function from X × X to X, so that it follows that f is continuous by Lemma 4 since X × X is discrete. Hence (,+) is a topological group by Exercise .1. □

(b)

Proof. Similarly to part (a), clearly (,+) is a group with identity element 0 and inverse element x for any x . However, this time the topology is no longer discrete. Of course we know that satisfies the T1 axiom. Now consider the function f(x × y) = x + y1 = x + (y) = x y for any x,y . Consider also any basis element B = (a,b) , where here we are of course using the order topology basis. Then we clearly have

f1(B) = {x × yf(x × y) (a,b)} = {x × ya < f(x × y) < b} = {x × ya < x y < b} = {x × ya x < y < b x} = {x × yx a > y > x b}.

Clearly this is the region in 2 between the lines y = x b and y = x a, which is obviously an open set in 2. This shows that f is continuous since B was an arbitrary basis element, so that (,+) is a topological group by Exercise .1. □

(c)

Proof. First, clearly p satisfies the T1 axiom since does. Next we note that for any x,y p we have that x y is also positive so that x y p as well, which shows the closure property of a group. Also, clearly 1 p is the identity element of multiplication, and the inverse element is x1 = 1x for any x p, noting that this is defined since x > 0, and that 1x > 0 so that x1 = 1x p. Lastly, we know that multiplication is associative on the reals (and therefore also on p), which completes the check that (p,) is in fact a group.

As before, define the function f : p × p p by f(x × y) = x y1 = x 1y = xy. Consider the order topology basis of and consider any basis element B of the subspace p so that B = p (a,b) for some a,b where a < b by Lemma 16.1. Now, if a 0 then clearly B = (0,b), and we have that

f1(B) = {x × yf(x × y) B} = {x × y0 < f(x × y) < b} = {x × y0 < xy < b} = {x × y0 < x < by} = {x × y0 < xb < y},

noting that 0 < b so that xb is defined. Obviously this is the region in p × p (p × p being the upper right quadrant of 2 that does not include either axis) above the line y = xb, which is easy to show is open in p × p.

On the other hand, if a > 0 than B = (a,b) so that

f1(B) = {x × yf(x × y) B} = {x × ya < f(x × y) < b} = {x × ya < xy < b} = {x × yay < x < by} = {x × yay < x x < by} = {x × yy < xa xb < y} = {x × yxb < y < xa},

which is clearly the region of p × p between the lines y = xb and y = xa. It is easy to see that again this is an open subset of p × p, which shows that f is continuous either way. This in turn proves that (p,) is a topological space, again by Exercise .1. □

(d)

Proof. Topologies on the complex plane have not really been discussed, but is usually defined as × having the usual product topology. Then of course S1 is the unit circle in . We know that is Hausdorff so that = × is as well by Theorem 17.11. Then, again by Theorem 17.11, S1 is Hausdorff since it is a subspace of , and so it also satisfies the T1 axiom.

While perhaps not immediately obvious, it is easy to show that S1 is closed under multiplication. If z,w S1 then |z| = |w| = 1 so that |z w| = |z| |w| = 1 1 = 1 by familiar rules of complex analysis so that z w S1 as well. Clearly 1 S1 is the identity element where the inverse element of z S1 is 1z, noting that |1z| = 1 |z| = 11 = 1 since z S1, and so 1z S1. We also note that |0| = 0, and hence 0S1 so that the inverse 1z is always defined. Lastly, we know that multiplication is associative within and therefore also within S1. This shows that (S1,) satisfies all of the group axioms.

To rigorously show that S1 is a topological group is actually quite tedious so we shall omit some details. Suppose that U is open in S1 and that z × w f1(U) so that f(z × w) U. Now, clearly the unit circle in = × is the set S1 = {ei } so that we can express z = ei and w = eiϕ for some ,ϕ . We then have that

f(z × w) = zw = eieiϕ = eieiϕ = ei(ϕ) U.

While tedious to show rigorously, it follows from the fact that U is open in S1 that there is an 𝜖 > 0 where f(z × w) Aϕ,𝜖 U, where we define

Aα,𝜖 = {eiγα 𝜖 < γ < α + 𝜖},

noting that of course Aα,𝜖 S1. Now consider A,𝜖2 and Aϕ,𝜖2, which are both clearly open in S1 and noting that clearly z A,𝜖2 and w Aϕ,𝜖2. For any z = ei A,𝜖2 and w = eiϕ Aϕ,𝜖2 we then have that

𝜖2 < < + 𝜖2 ϕ 𝜖2 < ϕ < ϕ + 𝜖2.

Hence

ϕ + 𝜖2 > ϕ > ϕ 𝜖2 ϕ + 𝜖2 > ϕ > ϕ 𝜖2 + 𝜖2 ϕ + 𝜖2 > ϕ + 𝜖2 > ϕ > ϕ 𝜖2 > 𝜖2 ϕ 𝜖2 ( ϕ) + 𝜖 > ϕ > ( ϕ) 𝜖

so that f(z× w) = ei(ϕ) Aϕ,𝜖 U. Thus z× w f1(U) so that z × w A,𝜖2 × Aϕ,𝜖2 f1(U) since z and w were arbitrary. We also have that A,𝜖2 × Aϕ,𝜖2 is open in S1 × S1 since both A,𝜖2 and Aϕ,𝜖2 are open in S1. Since z × w was an arbitrary element of f1(U), this shows that f1(U) is open in S1 × S1, which in turn shows that f is continuous by definition. Thus by Exercise .1 we have that S1 is a topological group. □

(e)

Proof. First, from linear algebra we know that the matrix product of two nonsingular n by n matrices is another nonsingular n by n matrix, so that GL(n) is closed under matrix multiplication. Clearly the identity matrix is the identity element of GL(n), while the inverse matrix A1 is the inverse element of the matrix A GL(n), noting that this inverse matrix exists since A is nonsingular. Lastly, we know that matrix multiplication is associative, which suffices to show that (GL(n),) is a group.

To show that it is a topological group takes more work. To begin, we note that of course n2 is Hausdorff and so satisfies the T1 axiom. Thus so does GL(n) since n2 gives it its topology. Next, we denote a vector in n by xn = x1 × × xn, using the subscript on the vector itself to indicate its dimension. We show that the function sn : n defined by

sn(xn) = i=1nx i

is continuous for all n +, which we show by induction. First, for n = 1, we clearly have that sn is simply the identity function from to , which is clearly continuous. Now suppose that sn is continuous. Define g : n+1 n by

g(xn+1) = π1(xn+1) × × πn(xn+1) = x1 × × xn = xn,

which is continuous by Theorem 19.6 since we know that each πi is continuous.

Then also sn g is continuous by Theorem 18.2 part (c). It then follows that the function h : n+1 2 defined by h(xn+1) = (sn g)(xn+1) × πn+1(xn+1) is continuous by Theorem 18.4 since both sn g and πn+1 are continuous. Lastly we then have that k : n+1 defined by + h is continuous by Theorem 18.2 part (c), where of course + is the usual addition operation from 2 to , which we showed is continuous in Exercise 21.12. Now we claim that k = sn+1. For any xn+1 n+1 we have

k(xn+1) = (+ h)(xn+1) = +(h(xn+1)) = +((sn g)(xn+1) × πn+1(xn+1)) = +(sn(g(xn+1)),xn+1) = +(sn(xn),xn+1) = sn(xn) + xn+1 = i=1nx i + xn+1 = i=1n+1x i = sn+1(xn+1).

This completes the induction since we have shown that k = sn+1 is continuous.

Next we show that the function pij : n × n defined by pij(xn ×yn) = xiyj is continuous, where of course ij {1,,n}. Define the function gij : n × n 2 by gij = πi × πj as in Exercise 18.10, which we know is continuous by that exercise since the coordinate functions are continuous. Then the function gij from n × n to is also continuous by Theorem 18.2 part (c), where of course is the normal multiplication operation from 2 to , which we know is continuous from Exercise 12.12. However, for any xn,yn n, we have

( gij)(xn ×yn) = (gij(xn ×yn)) = (πi(xn) × πj(yn)) = (xi × yj) = xi yj = pij(xn ×yn)

so that gij = pij is continuous, which shows the desired result.

Now, by definition, each matrix component of the resultant matrix in matrix multiplication on GL(n) is a sum of products, where each product involves a term from each of the matrices, and the sum has n terms going across a row of the first matrix and a column of the second. Thus each component is a composition of the sum function sn : n with a mapping f from n2 × n2 n, where each element in n of this mapping is a product function pij. Since have shown above that each pij is continuous, it follows from Theorem 19.6 that the mapping f is also continuous. Hence the composition sn f, i.e. the matrix component function, is also continuous by Theorem 18.2 part (c) since we have also shown above that sn is continuous. Since each component function is continuous, it again follows from Theorem 19.6 that the overall matrix multiplication mapping from n2 × n2 n2 is continuous.

Regarding the inverse element function, we recall from linear algebra that in the inverse of a matrix A GL(n) is

A1 = 1 |A|adj(A),

where adj(A) is the adjugate matrix of A and |A| is the determinant of A, noting that this is nonzero since A is nonsingular. Now, the determinant is a sum of products so that the function g : GL(N) defined by g(A) = |A| is continuous by the same arguments as above for matrix multiplication. Likewise each element of the adjugate matrix is a sum of products as well so that the function fij : GL(A) defined by fij(A) = adj(A)ij, i.e. the ith row and jth column component of the adjugate matrix, is also continuous.

Then clearly the corresponding component of the inverse matrix is the function hij : GL(A) defined by hij(A) = fij(A)g(A). Since both fij and g are continuous (and again noting that g is always nonzero), then their quotient hij is also continuous by Exercise 21.12. Hence, since each component hij of the inverse matrix is continuous, it follows that the inversion operation as a whole is continuous by Theorem 19.6 as above, considering the matrices as elements of n2 . Since both multiplication and inversion are continuous, this shows that GL(n) is a topological group by definition. □

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2019-12-01 00:00
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