On a characterization theorem for locally compact abelian groups

The well-known Skitovich-Darmois theorem asserts that a Gaussian distribution is characterized by the independence of two linear forms of independent random variables. The similar result was proved by Heyde, where instead of the independence, the symmetry of the conditional distribution of one linear form given another was considered. In this article we prove that the Heyde theorem on a locally compact Abelian group X remains true if and only if X contains no elements of order two. We describe also all distributions on the two-dimensional torus [inline-graphic not available: see fulltext] which are characterized by the symmetry of the conditional distribution of one linear form given another. In so doing we assume that the coefficients of the forms are topological automorphisms of X and the characteristic functions of the considering random variables do not vanish.