Consequences of the existence of ample generics and automorphism groups of homogeneous metric structures

Abstract: We define a simple criterion for a homogeneous, complete metric structure $X$ that implies that the automorphism group $\mbox{Aut}(X)$ satisfies all the main consequences of the existence of ample generics: it has the small index property, the automatic continuity property, and uncountable cofinality for non-open subgroups. Then we verify it for the Urysohn space $\mbox{U}$, the Lebesgue probability measure algebra $\mbox{MALG}$, and the Hilbert space $\ell_2$, thus proving that $\mbox{Iso}(\mbox{U})$, $\mbox{Aut}(\mbox{MALG})$, $U(\ell_2)$, and $O(\ell_2)$ share these properties. We also formulate a condition for $X$ which implies that every homomorphism of $\mbox{Aut}(X)$ into a separable group $K$ with a left-invariant, complete metric, is trivial, and we verify it for $\mbox{U}$, and $\ell_2$.