We consider amalgamation properties of convergent sequences in topological
groups and topological vector spaces. The main result of this paper is that,
for arbitrary topological groups, Nyikos's property α1.5 is
equivalent to Arhangel'ski\u{\i}'s formally stronger property α1. This
result solves a problem of Shakhmatov (2002), and its proof uses a new
perturbation argument. We also prove that there is a topological space X such
that the space Cp(X) of continuous real-valued functions on X, with the
topology of pointwise convergence, has Arhangel'ski\u{\i}'s property α1
but is not countably tight. This result follows from results of
Arhangel'ski\u{\i}--Pytkeev, Moore and Todor\v{c}evi\'c, and provides a new
solution, with remarkable properties, to a problem of Averbukh and Smolyanov
(1968) concerning topological vector spaces. The Averbukh--Smolyanov problem
was first solved by Plichko (2009), using Banach spaces with weaker locally
convex topologies.Comment: Final version (minor changes