Hopficity of profinite completions of abelian groups

Abstract

We determine exactly when the profinite completion of an arbitrary abelian group is topologically Hopfian. For an abelian group $A$, we prove that \[ \widehat A \text{ is topologically Hopfian} \quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad A/pA \text{ is finite for every prime }p. \] As a byproduct, we answer Problem 6.30 of the Kourovka Notebook in the negative: for pairwise distinct odd primes $q_i$, the group $\bigoplus_{i\geq1}\Z[1/q_i]$ is residually finite and Hopfian, whereas its profinite completion is not topologically Hopfian.