« Supplementary Exercises*: Topological Groups: Problem 6 Solution

Supplementary Exercises*: Topological Groups: Problem 7 Solution

Working problems is a crucial part of learning mathematics. No one can learn topology merely by poring over the definitions, theorems, and examples that are worked out in the text. One must work part of it out for oneself. To provide that opportunity is the purpose of the exercises.
James R. Munkres
If and are subsets of , let denote the set of all points for and . Let denote the set of all points , for .
(a) A neighborhood of the identity element is said to be symmetric if . If is a neighborhood of , show there is a symmetric neighborhood of such that . [Hint: If is a neighborhood of , then is symmetric.]
(b) Show that is Hausdorff. In fact, show that if , there is a neighborhood of such that and are disjoint.
(c) Show that satisfies the following separation axiom, which is called the regularity axiom: Given a closed set and a point not in , there exist disjoint open sets containing and , respectively. [Hint: There is a neighborhood of such that and are disjoint.]
(d) Let be a subgroup of that is closed in the topology of ; let be the quotient map. Show that satisfies the regularity axiom. [Hint: Examine the proof of (c) when is saturated.]
(a) and are continuous, therefore, there is a neighborhood of such that and such that . Therefore, , and iff for some iff .
(b) We need a symmetric neighborhood of such that for no : or . In other words, we need a symmetric neighborhood of such that does not contain . is a -space, therefore, is closed. Using (a), we construct for . It remains to note that since and are homeomorphisms (Exercise 4), and are disjoint open neighborhoods of and .
(c) We need a symmetric neighborhood of such that for no and : or . In other words, we need a symmetric neighborhood of such that does not intersect . is closed ( is a homeomorphism by Exercise 4). Using (a), we construct for . It remains to note that since and for are homeomorphisms (Exercise 4), and are disjoint open neighborhoods of and .
(d) If is closed, is a -space (Exercise 5(b)). So, together with the regularity axiom we are about to prove, this shows that is a regular space. However, as noted in the comments below (see the comments by shafi and Daniel Whitman below), the regularity axiom holds even if is not closed (and, therefore, is not a space).
A closed subset of is an image of a closed saturated subset of . Let be a saturated closed subset of that does not intersect . Then, . Indeed, . Alternatively, you can just say that then consists of disjoint subsets for some each being closed under right multiplication by . As in (c), let be a symmetric neighborhood of such that does not intersect . Using Exercise 5(c), is an open neighborhood of disjoint from , an open neighborhood of . Indeed, if they are not disjoint, then for some elements and , , and where , contradicting .