A $k$-reflection of the $n$-dimensional complex hyperbolic space ${\rm H}_{\C}^n$ is an element in ${\rm U}(n,1)$ with negative type eigenvalue $λ$, $|λ|=1$, of multiplicity $k+1$ and positive type eigenvalue $1$ of multiplicity $n-k$. We prove that a holomorphic isometry of ${\rm H}_{\C}^n$ is a product of at most four involutions and a complex $k$-reflection, $k \leq 2$. Along the way, we prove that every element in ${\rm SU}(n)$ is a product of four or five involutions according as $n \neq 2 \mod 4$ or $n = 2 \mod 4$. We also give an easy proof of the result that every holomorphic isometry of ${\rm H}_{\C}^n$ is a product of two anti-holomorphic involutions.
We study decompositions of complex hyperbolic isometries as products of involutions. We show that PU(2,1) has involution length 4 and commutator length 1, and that for all $n \geqslant 3$ PU($n$,1) has involution length at most 8.
The main technical result of this paper is to characterize the contracting isometries of a CAT(0) cube complex without any assumption on its local finiteness. Afterwards, we introduce the combinatorial boundary of a CAT(0) cube complex, and we show that contracting isometries are strongly related to isolated points at infinity, when the complex is locally finite. This boundary turns out to appear naturally in the context of Guba and Sapir's diagram groups, and we apply our main criterion to determine precisely when an element of a diagram group induces a contracting isometry on the associated …
Let $G$ be a group. An element $g$ in $G$ is called reversible if it is conjugate to $g^{-1}$ within $G$, and called strongly reversible if it is conjugate to its inverse by an order two element of $G$. Let $\textbf{H}_{\mathbb H}^n$ be the $n$-dimensional quaternionic hyperbolic space. Let $\mathrm{PSp}(n,1)$ be the isometry group of $\textbf{H}_{\mathbb H}^n$. In this paper, we classify reversible and strongly reversible elements in $\mathrm{Sp}(n)$ and $\mathrm{Sp}(n,1)$. Also, we prove that all the elements of $\mathrm{PSp}(n,1)$ are strongly reversible.
Let $G$ be a group. Two elements $x, y$ are said to be {\it $z$-equivalent} if their centralizers are conjugate in $G$. The class equation of $G$ is the partition of $G$ into conjugacy classes. Further decomposition of conjugacy classes into $z$-classes provides an important information about the internal structure of the group. Let $I(\H^n)$ denote the group of isometries of the hyperbolic $n$-space. We show that the number of $z$-classes in $I(\H^n)$ is finite. We actually compute their number, cf. theorem 1.3. We interpret the finiteness of $z$-classes as accounting for the finiteness of "d…
A group $Γ$ with a family of subgroups $\mathbb{P}$ is relatively hyperbolic if $Γ$ admits a cusp-uniform action on a proper $δ$--hyperbolic space. We show that any two such spaces for a given group pair are quasi-isometric, provided the spaces have "constant horospherical distortion," a condition satisfied by Groves--Manning's cusped Cayley graph and by all negatively curved symmetric spaces. Consequently the Bowditch boundary admits a canonical quasisymmetric structure, which coincides with the "naturally occurring" quasisymmetric structure of the symmetric space when considering lattices in…
Using the representation of the isometries as 2x2 invertible matrices over the division algebra $\H$ of quaternions, we give an algebraic characterization of the dynamical types of the orientation-preserving isometries of the hyperbolic 5-space. We also determine the conjugacy classes and the conjugacy classes of centralizers or the z-classes in $GL(2, \H)$.
Carrier graphs were first introduced for closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds by White. In this paper, we first generalize this definition to carrier graphs for representations of a rank two free group into the isometry group of hyperbolic three space. Then we prove the existence and the finiteness of minimal carrier graphs for those representations which are discrete, faithful and geometrically finite, and more generally, those that satisfy certain finiteness conditions first introduced by Bowditch.
This paper has been withdrawn by the authors. Significantly revised versions of the results of this paper are now available in arXiv:0707.0487v2 and arXiv:0808.3169v1.
It is of interest to characterize algebraically the dynamical types of isometries of the complex and quaternionic hyperbolic planes. In the complex case, such a characterization is known from the work of Giraud-Goldman. In this paper, we offer an algebraic characterization of the isometries of the two-dimensional quaternionic hyperbolic space. Our result restricts to the complex case and provides another characterization of the isometries of the complex hyperbolic plane which is different from the characterization due to Giraud-Goldman. Two elements in a group G are said to be in the same z-cl…
We prove that a PQ-symmetric homeomorphism between two complete metric spaces can be extended to a quasi-isometry between their hyperbolic approximations. This result is used to prove that two visual Gromov hyperbolic spaces are quasi-isometric if and only if there is a PQ-symmetric homeomorphism between their boundaries.
Generalizing the involution length of the complex hyperbolic plane, we obtain that the $α$-length of $\mathrm{PU}(2,1)$ is $4$, that is, every element of $\mathrm{PU}(2,1)$ can be decomposed as the product of at most $4$ special elliptic isometries with parameter $α$. We also describe the isometries that can be written as the product of $2$ or $3$ such special elliptic isometries.
In this paper we develop a complete theory of factorization for isometries of hyperbolic 4-space. Of special interest is the case where a pair of isometries is linked, that is, when a pair of isometries can be expressed each as compositions of two involutions, one of which is common to both isometries. Here we develop a new theory of hyperbolic pencils and twisting planes involving a new geometric construction, their half-turn banks. This enables us to give complete results about each of the pair-types of isometries and their simultaneous factorization by half-turns. That is, we provide geomet…
Let $\mathbb F=\mathbb R$, $\mathbb C$ or $\mathbb H$. Let ${\bf H}_{\mathbb F}^n$ denote the $n$-dimensional $\mathbb F$-hyperbolic space. Let ${\rm U}(n,1; \mathbb F)$ be the linear group that acts by the isometries. A subgroup $G$ of ${\rm U}(n,1; \mathbb F)$ is called \emph{Zariski dense} if it does not fix a point on the closure of the $\mathbb F$-hyperbolic space, and neither it preserves a totally geodesic subspace of it. We prove that a Zariski dense subgroup $G$ of ${\rm U}(n,1; \mathbb F)$ is discrete if for every loxodromic element $g \in G$, the two generator subgroup $\langle f, g…
An element $g$ in a group $G$ is called reversible (or real) if it is conjugate to $g^{-1}$ in $G$, i.e., there exists $h$ in $G$ such that $g^{-1}=hgh^{-1}$. The element $g$ is called strongly reversible if the conjugating element $h$ is an involution (i.e., element of order at most two) in $G$. In this paper, we classify reversible and strongly reversible elements in the isometry groups of $\mathbb{F}$-Hermitian spaces, where $\mathbb{F}=\mathbb{C}$ or $\mathbb{H}$. More precisely, we classify reversible and strongly reversible elements in the groups $ \mathrm{Sp}(n) \ltimes \mathbb{H}^n$, $…
Let ${{\bf H}_{\mathbb H}}^n$ denote the $n$-dimensional quaternionic hyperbolic space. The linear group ${\rm{Sp}}(n,1)$ acts by the isometries of ${{\bf H}_{\mathbb H}}^n$. A subgroup $G$ of ${\rm {Sp}}(n,1)$ is called \emph{Zariski dense} if it does not fix a point on ${{\bf H}_{\mathbb H}}^n \cup \partial {{\bf H}_{\mathbb H}}^n$ and neither it preserves a totally geodesic subspace of ${{\bf H}_{\mathbb H}}^n$. We prove that a Zariski dense subgroup $G$ of ${\rm{ Sp}}(n,1)$ is discrete if for every loxodromic element $g \in G$ the two generator subgroup $\langle f, g f g^{-1} \rangle$ is d…
Consider $n \geq 2$. In this paper we prove that the group $\text{PU}(n,1)$ is $1$-taut. This result concludes the study of $1$-tautness of rank-one Lie groups of non-compact type. Additionally the tautness property implies a classification of finitely generated groups which are $\text{L}^1$-measure equivalent to lattices of $\text{PU}(n,1)$. More precisely, we show that $\text{L}^1$-measure equivalent groups must be extensions of lattices of $\text{PU}(n,1)$ by a finite group.
The main result of this paper is that given a group $G$ acting geometrically by isometries on a CAT(0) space $X$ and a cyclic subgroup $H$ of $G$ generated by a rank-1 isometry of $X$, $H$ has bounded packing in $G$. We give two proofs of this result. The first one is by a characterization of rank-$1$ isometries by Hamenstadt. The second proof follows directly from some results of Dahmani-Guirardel-Osin and Sisto. Then using Mihailova's construction, we show the existence of a finitely generated subgroup of the direct product of two free groups $\mathbb F_2\times \mathbb F_2$ without the bound…
In 1900, Macfarlane proposed a hyperbolic variation on Hamilton's quaternions that closely resembles Minkowski spacetime. Viewing this in a modern context, we expand upon Macfarlane's idea and develop a model for real hyperbolic 3-space in which both points and isometries are expressed as complex quaternions, analogous to Hamilton's famous theorem on Euclidean rotations. We use this to give new computational tools for studying isometries of hyperbolic 2- and 3-space. We also give a generalization to other quaternion algebras.
Let $G \curvearrowright X$ be a nonelementary action by isometries of a hyperbolic group $G$ on a hyperbolic metric space $X$. We show that the set of elements of $G$ which act as loxodromic isometries of $X$ is generic. That is, for any finite generating set of $G$, the proportion of $X$--loxodromics in the ball of radius $n$ about the identity in $G$ approaches $1$ as $n \to \infty$. We also establish several results about the behavior in $X$ of the images of typical geodesic rays in $G$; for example, we prove that they make linear progress in $X$ and converge to the Gromov boundary $\partia…
A group of isometries of a hyperbolic $n$-space is called a reflection group if it is generated by reflections in hyperbolic hyperplanes. Vinberg gave a semi-algorithm for finding a maximal reflection sublattice in a given arithmetic subgroup of $O(n,1)$ of the simplest type. We provide an effective termination condition for Vinberg's semi-algorithm with which it becomes an algorithm for finding maximal reflection sublattices. The main new ingredient of the proof is an upper bound for the number of faces of an arithmetic hyperbolic Coxeter polyhedron in terms of its volume.
Let G be a countable group which acts by isometries on a separable, but not necessarily proper, Gromov hyperbolic space X. We say the action of G is weakly hyperbolic if G contains two independent hyperbolic isometries. We show that a random walk on such G converges to the Gromov boundary almost surely. We apply the convergence result to show linear progress and linear growth of translation length, without any assumptions on the moments of the random walk. If the action is acylindrical, and the random walk has finite entropy and finite logarithmic moment, we show that the Gromov boundary with …
We study properties of generic elements of groups of isometries of hyperbolic spaces. Under general combinatorial conditions, we prove that loxodromic elements are generic (i.e. they have full density with respect to counting in balls for the word metric) and translation length grows linearly. We provide applications to a large class of relatively hyperbolic groups and graph products, including right-angled Artin groups and right-angled Coxeter groups.
We extend a theorem of Masur and Wolf which says that given a hyperbolic surface S, every isometry of the Teichmuller space for S with the Weil-Petersson metric is induced by an element of the mapping class group for S. Our argument handles the previously untreated cases of the four-holed sphere, the one-holed torus, and the two-holed torus.
We define a new notion of contracting element of a group and we show that contracting elements coincide with hyperbolic elements in relatively hyperbolic groups, pseudo-Anosovs in mapping class groups, rank one isometries in groups acting properly on proper CAT(0) spaces, elements acting hyperbolically on the Bass-Serre tree in graph manifold groups. We also define a related notion of weakly contracting element, and show that those coincide with hyperbolic elements in groups acting acylindrically on hyperbolic spaces and with iwips in $Out(F_n)$, $n\geq 3$. We prove that any simple random walk…
We equip the whole tangent space $TM$ to a hyperbolic manifold $M$ (of constant sectional curvature -1) with a natural metric in an intrinsic way, so that the isometries of $M$ extend to isometries of $TM$ by holomorphic continuation. The image to the tangent space to a geodesic is equivalent to a hyperbolic disk. In the case of hyperbolic space, we exhibit an equivariant diffeomorphism between $TM$ and the fourth symmetric complex domain of E. Cartan, also known as the Lie ball. The closure of the Lie ball appears as a horospheric compactification of the tangent bundle to hyperbolic space, an…
In this paper, we study multiply transitive actions of the group of isometries of a cusped finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold on the set of its cusps. In particular, we prove a conjecture of Vogeler that there is a largest $k$ for which such $k$-transitive actions exist, and that for each $k \geq 3$, there is an upper bound on the possible number of cusps.
The notion of limit roots of a Coxeter group W was recently introduced (see arXiv:1112.5415 and arXiv:1303.6710): they are the accumulation points of directions of roots of a root system for W. In the case where the root system lives in a Lorentzian space W admits a faithful representation as a discrete reflection group of isometries on a hyperbolic space; the accumulation set of any of its orbits is then classically called the limit set of W. In this article we show that the limit roots of a Coxeter group W acting on a Lorentzian space is equal to the limit set of W seen as a discrete reflect…
We establish a link between the holomorphic derivatives of Thurston's hyperbolic gluing equations on an ideally triangulated finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifold and the cohomology of the sheaf of infinitesimal isometries. Moreover, we provide a geometric reformulation of the non-abelian Reidemeister torsion corresponding to the adjoint of the monodromy representation of the hyperbolic structure. These results are then applied to the study of the `1-loop Conjecture' of Dimofte-Garoufalidis, which we generalize to arbitrary 1-cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We rigorously verify the generalized co…
In this paper we consider ultra-parallel complex hyperbolic triangle groups of type $[m_1,m_2,0]$, i.e. groups of isometries of the complex hyperbolic plane, generated by complex reflections in three ultra-parallel complex geodesics two of which intersect on the boundary. We prove some discreteness and non-discreteness results for these groups and discuss the connection between the discreteness results and ellipticity of certain group elements.
In this paper we study discreteness of complex hyperbolic triangle groups of type $[m,m,0;3,3,2]$, i.e. groups of isometries of the complex hyperbolic plane generated by three complex reflections of orders $3,3,2$ in complex geodesics with pairwise distances $m,m,0$. For fixed $m,$ the parameter space of such groups is of real dimension one. We determine intervals in this parameter space that correspond to discrete and to non-discrete triangle groups.
Given a discrete subgroup of the isometries of n-dimensional hyperbolic space there is always a region kept precisely invariant under the stabilizer of a parabolic fixed point, called the Margulis region. While in dimensions 2 and 3 this region is a horoball, it has in general a more complicated shape due to the existence of screw parabolic elements in higher dimensions. In fact, P. Susskind has shown that in a discrete group acting on hyperbolic 4-space containing a screw parabolic element with irrational rotation, the corresponding Margulis region does not contain a horoball. In this paper w…
This paper is devoted to study of transformations on metric spaces. It is done in an effort to produce qualitative version of quasi-isometries which takes into account the asymptotic behavior of the Gromov product in hyperbolic spaces. We characterize a quotient semigroup of such transformations on Teichmüller space by use of simplicial automorphisms of the complex of curves, and we will see that such transformation is recognized as a "coarsification" of isometries on Teichmüller space which is rigid at infinity. We also show a hyperbolic characteristic that any finite dimensional Teichmüller …
