Topologically independent sets in topological groups and vector spaces

We study topological versions of an independent set in an abelian group and a linearly independent set in a vector space, a topologically independent set in a topological group and a topologically linearly independent set in a topological vector space. These counterparts of their algebraic versions are defined analogously and possess similar properties.

Let $C^{\times }$ be the multiplicative group of the field of complex numbers with its usual topology. We prove that a subset A of an arbitrary Tychonoff power of $C^{\times }$ is topologically independent if and only if the topological subgroup $〈A〉$ that it generates is the Tychonoff direct sum ${⨁}_{a\in A}〈a〉$.

This theorem substantially generalizes an earlier result of the author, who has proved this for Abelian precompact groups.

Further, we show that topologically independent and topologically linearly independent sets coincide in vector spaces with weak topologies, although they are different in general.

We characterize topologically linearly independent sets in vector spaces with weak topologies and normed spaces. In a weak topology, a set A is topologically linearly independent if and only if its linear span is the Tychonoff direct sum $R^{\left(A\right)}$. In normed spaces A is topologically linearly independent if and only if it is uniformly minimal. Thus, from the point of view of topological linear independence, the Tychonoff direct sums $R^{\left(A\right)}$ and (linear spans of) uniformly minimal sets, which are closely related to bounded biorthogonal systems, are of the same essence.

We also provide an application of topological linear independence to Lipschitz-free spaces.