A topological version of the Bergman property

Abstract

A topological group G is defined to have property (OB) if any G-action by isometries on a metric space, which is separately continuous, has bounded orbits. We study this topological analogue of the socalled Bergman property in the context of Polish groups, where we show it to have several interesting reformulations and consequences. We subsequently apply the results obtained in order to verify property (OB) for a number of groups of isometries and homeomorphism groups of compact metric spaces. We also give a proof that the isometry group of the rational Urysohn metric space of diameter 1 is Bergman.