Suitable sets for topological groups revisited

Abstract: A discrete subset $S$ of a topological group $G$ is called a {\it suitable set} for $G$ if $S\cup {e}$ is closed in $G$ and the subgroup generated by $S$ is dense in $G$, where $e$ is the identity element of $G$. In this paper, the existence of suitable sets in topological groups is studied. It is proved that, for a non-separable $k_{\omega}$-space $X$ without non-trivial convergent sequences, the $snf$-countability of $A(X)$ implies that $A(X)$ does not have a suitable set, which gives a partial answer to \cite[Problem 2.1]{TKA1997}. Moreover, the existence of suitable sets in some particular classes of linearly orderable topological groups is considered, where Theorem~\ref{t4} provides an affirmative answer to \cite[Problem 4.3]{ST2002}. Then, topological groups with an $\omega^{\omega}$-base are discussed, and every linearly orderable topological group with an $\omega^{\omega}$-base being metrizable is proved; thus it has a suitable set. Further, it follows that each topological group $G$ with an $\omega^{\omega}$-base has a suitable set whenever $G$ is a $k$-space, which gives a generalization of a well-known result in \cite{CM}. Finally, some cardinal invariant of topological groups with a suitable set are provided. Some results of this paper give some partial answers to some open problems posed in~\cite{DTA} and~\cite{TKA1997} respectively.