Why is the Hausdorff property mentioned in the characterization of profinite groups?












4














Profinite groups are usually characterized as compact, totally disconnected, Hausdorff groups. However, as shown here, every totally disconnected topological group already has the Hausdorff property.



Still, every textbook I've come across explicitly mentions (and even proves) the Hausdorff property in the characterization. Is there any reason whatsoever for this emphasis?










share|cite|improve this question







New contributor




user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

























    4














    Profinite groups are usually characterized as compact, totally disconnected, Hausdorff groups. However, as shown here, every totally disconnected topological group already has the Hausdorff property.



    Still, every textbook I've come across explicitly mentions (and even proves) the Hausdorff property in the characterization. Is there any reason whatsoever for this emphasis?










    share|cite|improve this question







    New contributor




    user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      4












      4








      4







      Profinite groups are usually characterized as compact, totally disconnected, Hausdorff groups. However, as shown here, every totally disconnected topological group already has the Hausdorff property.



      Still, every textbook I've come across explicitly mentions (and even proves) the Hausdorff property in the characterization. Is there any reason whatsoever for this emphasis?










      share|cite|improve this question







      New contributor




      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      Profinite groups are usually characterized as compact, totally disconnected, Hausdorff groups. However, as shown here, every totally disconnected topological group already has the Hausdorff property.



      Still, every textbook I've come across explicitly mentions (and even proves) the Hausdorff property in the characterization. Is there any reason whatsoever for this emphasis?







      group-theory topological-groups profinite-groups






      share|cite|improve this question







      New contributor




      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|cite|improve this question







      New contributor




      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|cite|improve this question




      share|cite|improve this question






      New contributor




      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked Jan 4 at 12:37









      user631620user631620

      213




      213




      New contributor




      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      user631620 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          1














          Yes it is quite funny that every totally disconnected topological group is automatically Hausdorff.
          There are more places in mathematics where this superfluousness is present. For example the definition of a (left) module $M$ over a ring $R$ with identity $1$. In every textbook $M$ is required to be an abelian group, but it is implied by the axioms: $r(m_1+m_2)=rm_1+rm_2$ en $(r_1+r_2)m=r_1m+r_2m$. For these yield $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_1+m_2+m_2$ and also $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_2+m_1+m_2$, whence $m_1+m_2=m_2+m_1$!

          So I guess it is laziness or a matter of ease.






          share|cite|improve this answer































            0














            For a topological group it's equivalent to be $T_0$, $T_1$, $T_2$ or even completely regular ($T_{3frac12}$). So we just want to exclude the case where we have a large indiscrete subgroup like $overline{{e}}$, even though the totally disconnected condition already implies this.



            It's pretty routine to demand compact spaces to be also Hausdorff, and all topological groups to have non-trivial separation axioms too. So it's probably force of habit.






            share|cite|improve this answer























              Your Answer





              StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
              return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
              StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
              StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
              });
              });
              }, "mathjax-editing");

              StackExchange.ready(function() {
              var channelOptions = {
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "69"
              };
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
              createEditor();
              });
              }
              else {
              createEditor();
              }
              });

              function createEditor() {
              StackExchange.prepareEditor({
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
              convertImagesToLinks: true,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: 10,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader: {
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              },
              noCode: true, onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              });


              }
              });






              user631620 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function () {
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3061614%2fwhy-is-the-hausdorff-property-mentioned-in-the-characterization-of-profinite-gro%23new-answer', 'question_page');
              }
              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown

























              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes








              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              1














              Yes it is quite funny that every totally disconnected topological group is automatically Hausdorff.
              There are more places in mathematics where this superfluousness is present. For example the definition of a (left) module $M$ over a ring $R$ with identity $1$. In every textbook $M$ is required to be an abelian group, but it is implied by the axioms: $r(m_1+m_2)=rm_1+rm_2$ en $(r_1+r_2)m=r_1m+r_2m$. For these yield $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_1+m_2+m_2$ and also $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_2+m_1+m_2$, whence $m_1+m_2=m_2+m_1$!

              So I guess it is laziness or a matter of ease.






              share|cite|improve this answer




























                1














                Yes it is quite funny that every totally disconnected topological group is automatically Hausdorff.
                There are more places in mathematics where this superfluousness is present. For example the definition of a (left) module $M$ over a ring $R$ with identity $1$. In every textbook $M$ is required to be an abelian group, but it is implied by the axioms: $r(m_1+m_2)=rm_1+rm_2$ en $(r_1+r_2)m=r_1m+r_2m$. For these yield $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_1+m_2+m_2$ and also $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_2+m_1+m_2$, whence $m_1+m_2=m_2+m_1$!

                So I guess it is laziness or a matter of ease.






                share|cite|improve this answer


























                  1












                  1








                  1






                  Yes it is quite funny that every totally disconnected topological group is automatically Hausdorff.
                  There are more places in mathematics where this superfluousness is present. For example the definition of a (left) module $M$ over a ring $R$ with identity $1$. In every textbook $M$ is required to be an abelian group, but it is implied by the axioms: $r(m_1+m_2)=rm_1+rm_2$ en $(r_1+r_2)m=r_1m+r_2m$. For these yield $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_1+m_2+m_2$ and also $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_2+m_1+m_2$, whence $m_1+m_2=m_2+m_1$!

                  So I guess it is laziness or a matter of ease.






                  share|cite|improve this answer














                  Yes it is quite funny that every totally disconnected topological group is automatically Hausdorff.
                  There are more places in mathematics where this superfluousness is present. For example the definition of a (left) module $M$ over a ring $R$ with identity $1$. In every textbook $M$ is required to be an abelian group, but it is implied by the axioms: $r(m_1+m_2)=rm_1+rm_2$ en $(r_1+r_2)m=r_1m+r_2m$. For these yield $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_1+m_2+m_2$ and also $(1+1)(m_1+m_2)=m_1+m_2+m_1+m_2$, whence $m_1+m_2=m_2+m_1$!

                  So I guess it is laziness or a matter of ease.







                  share|cite|improve this answer














                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer








                  edited Jan 4 at 14:10

























                  answered Jan 4 at 13:43









                  Nicky HeksterNicky Hekster

                  28.3k53456




                  28.3k53456























                      0














                      For a topological group it's equivalent to be $T_0$, $T_1$, $T_2$ or even completely regular ($T_{3frac12}$). So we just want to exclude the case where we have a large indiscrete subgroup like $overline{{e}}$, even though the totally disconnected condition already implies this.



                      It's pretty routine to demand compact spaces to be also Hausdorff, and all topological groups to have non-trivial separation axioms too. So it's probably force of habit.






                      share|cite|improve this answer




























                        0














                        For a topological group it's equivalent to be $T_0$, $T_1$, $T_2$ or even completely regular ($T_{3frac12}$). So we just want to exclude the case where we have a large indiscrete subgroup like $overline{{e}}$, even though the totally disconnected condition already implies this.



                        It's pretty routine to demand compact spaces to be also Hausdorff, and all topological groups to have non-trivial separation axioms too. So it's probably force of habit.






                        share|cite|improve this answer


























                          0












                          0








                          0






                          For a topological group it's equivalent to be $T_0$, $T_1$, $T_2$ or even completely regular ($T_{3frac12}$). So we just want to exclude the case where we have a large indiscrete subgroup like $overline{{e}}$, even though the totally disconnected condition already implies this.



                          It's pretty routine to demand compact spaces to be also Hausdorff, and all topological groups to have non-trivial separation axioms too. So it's probably force of habit.






                          share|cite|improve this answer














                          For a topological group it's equivalent to be $T_0$, $T_1$, $T_2$ or even completely regular ($T_{3frac12}$). So we just want to exclude the case where we have a large indiscrete subgroup like $overline{{e}}$, even though the totally disconnected condition already implies this.



                          It's pretty routine to demand compact spaces to be also Hausdorff, and all topological groups to have non-trivial separation axioms too. So it's probably force of habit.







                          share|cite|improve this answer














                          share|cite|improve this answer



                          share|cite|improve this answer








                          edited Jan 5 at 9:45

























                          answered Jan 4 at 23:54









                          Henno BrandsmaHenno Brandsma

                          105k347114




                          105k347114






















                              user631620 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










                              draft saved

                              draft discarded


















                              user631620 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













                              user631620 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                              user631620 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                              Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                              Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function () {
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3061614%2fwhy-is-the-hausdorff-property-mentioned-in-the-characterization-of-profinite-gro%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                              }
                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              An IMO inspired problem

                              Management

                              Has there ever been an instance of an active nuclear power plant within or near a war zone?