The goal of this paper is to describe a theoretical construction of an infinite collection of non-classical Schottky groups. We first show that there are infinitely many non-classical noded Schottky groups on the boundary of Schottky space, and we show that infinitely many of these are "sufficiently complicated". We then show that every Schottky group in an appropriately defined relative conical neighborhood of any sufficiently complicated noded Schottky group is necessarily non-classical. Finally, we construct two examples; the first is a noded Riemann surface of genus $3$ that cannot be uniformized by any neoclassical Schottky group (i.e., classical noded Schottky group); the second is an explicit example of a sufficiently complicated noded Schottky group in genus $3$.
Not all Schottky groups of Moebius transformations are classical Schottky groups. In this paper we show that all Fuchsian Schottky groups are classical Schottky groups, but not necessarily on the same set of generators.
A virtual Schottky group is a Kleinian group $K$ containing a Schottky group $G$ as a finite index normal subgroup. These groups correspond to those groups of automorphisms of closed Riemann surfaces which can be realized at the level of their Schottky uniformizations. In this paper we provides a geometrical structural decomposition of $K$ in the particular case when $K/G$ is an abelian group.
The theoretical existence of non-classical Schottky groups is due to Marden. Explicit examples of such kind of groups are only known in rank two, the first one by by Yamamoto in 1991 and later by Williams in 2009. In 2006, Maskit and the author provided a theoretical method to obtain examples of non-classical Schottky groups in any rank. The method assumes the knowledge of some algebraic limits of Schottky groups, called sufficiently complicated noded Schottky groups, whose existence was stated. In this paper we provide an explicit construction of a sufficiently complicated noded Schottky grou…
Given a symmetry $τ$ of a closed Riemann surface $S$, there exists an extended Kleinian group $K$, whose orientation-preserving half is a Schottky group $Γ$ uniformizing $S$, such that $K/Γ$ induces $\langle τ\rangle$; the group $K$ is called an extended Schottky group. A geometrical structural description, in terms of the Klein-Maskit combination theorems, of both Schottky and extended Schottky groups is well known. A dihedral extended Schottky group is a group generated by the elements of two different extended Schottky groups, both with the same orientation-preserving half. Such configurati…
It is well known that the collection of uniformizations of a closed Riemann surface $S$ is partially ordered; the lowest ones are the Schottky unformizations, that is, tuples $(Ω,Γ,P:Ω\to S)$, where $Γ$ is a Schottky group with region of discontinuity $Ω$ and $P:Ω\to S$ is a regular holomorphic cover map with $Γ$ as its deck group. Let $τ:S \to S$ be a conformal (respectively, anticonformal) automorphism of $S$ of finite order $n$, and let $(Ω,Γ,P:Ω\to S)$ be a Schottky uniformization of $S$. Assume that $τ$ lifts with respect to the previous Schottky uniformization, that is, there exists a Mö…
An extended Kleinian group whose orientation-preserving half is a Schottky group is called an extended Schottky group. These groups correspond to the real points in the Schottky space. Their geometric structures is well known and it permits to provide information on the locus of fixed points of symmetries of handlebodies. A group generated by two different extended Schottky groups, both with the same orientation-preserving half, is called a dihedral extended Schottky group. We provide a structural description of these type of groups and, as a consequence, we obtain sharp upper bounds for the s…
Real points of Schottky space ${\mathcal S}_{g}$ are in correspondence with extended Kleinian groups $K$ containing, as a normal subgroup, a Schottky group $Γ$ of rank $g$ such that $K/Γ\cong {\mathbb Z}_{2n}$ for a suitable integer $n \geq 1$. These kind of groups are called extended ${\mathbb Z}_{2n}$-Schottky groups of rank $g$. In this paper, we provide a structural decomposition theorem, in terms of Klein-Maskit's combination theorems, of these kind of groups.
Greg McShane introduced a remarkable identity for the lengths of simple closed geodesics on cusped hyperbolic surfaces. This was subsequently generalized by the authors to hyperbolic cone-surfaces, possibly with cusps and/or geodesic boundary. In this paper, we generalize the identity further to the case of classical Schottky groups. As a consequence, we obtain some surprising new identities in the case of fuchsian Schottky groups. For classical Schottky groups of rank 2, we also give generalizations of the Weierstrass identities, first given by McShane.
A $T$-Schottky group is a discrete group of Möbius transformations whose generators identify pairs of, possibly-tangent, Jordan curves on the complex sphere, ${\hat{\IC}}$. If the curves are Euclidean circles then the group is termed classical $T$-Schottky. We describe the boundary of the space of classical $T$-Schottky groups affording two parabolic generators within the larger parameter space of all $T$-Schottky groups with two parabolic generators. This boundary is surprisingly different from that of the larger space. It is analytic while the boundary of the larger space appears to be fract…
We describe a construction of Schottky type subgroups of automorphism groups of partially cyclically ordered sets. We apply this construction to the Shilov boundary of a Hermitian symmetric space and show that in this setting Schottky subgroups correspond to maximal representations of fundamental groups of surfaces with boundary. As an application, we construct explicit fundamental domains for the action of maximal representations into $\mathrm{Sp}(2n,\mathbb{R})$ on $\mathbb{RP}^{2n-1}$.
It is known that the order of a finite group of diffeomorphisms of a 3-dimensional handlebody of genus g > 1 is bounded by the linear polynomial 12(g-1), and that the order of a finite group of diffeomorphisms of a 4-dimensional handlebody (or equivalently, of its boundary 3-manifold), faithful on the fundamental group, is bounded by a quadratic polynomial in g (but not by a linear one). In the present paper we prove a generalization for handlebodies of arbitrary dimension d, uniformizing handlebodies by Schottky groups and considering finite groups of isometries of such handlebodies. We prove…
In this paper we prove that there exists a positive number $λ>0$, such that any 2-generated Kleinian groups with limit set of Hausdorff dimension $<λ$ are classical Schottky groups.
A Schottky group in PSL(2, C) induces an open hyperbolic handlebody and its ideal boundary is a closed orientable surface S whose genus is equal to the rank of the Schottky group. This boundary surface is equipped with a (complex) projective structure and its holonomy representation is an epimorphism from pi_1(S) to the Schottky group. We will show that an arbitrary projective structure with the same holonomy representation is obtained by (2 pi-)grafting the basic structure described above.
This is the second part of the works on Hausdorff dimensions of Schottky groups. It has been conjectured that the Hausdorff dimensions of nonclassical Schottky groups are strictly bounded from below. In this second part of our works we provide a resolution of this conjecture, we prove that there exists a universal positive number $λ>0$, such that any finitely-generated non-elementary Kleinian groups with limit set of Hausdorff dimension $<λ$ are classical Schottky groups. We will generalize our previous technologies given in \cite{HS} to prove our general result. Our result can be consider as …
An irreducible representation of the free group on two generators X,Y into SL(2,C) is determined up to conjugation by the traces of X,Y and XY. We study the diagonal slice of representations for which X,Y and XY have equal trace. Using the three-fold symmetry and Keen-Series pleating rays we locate those groups which are free and discrete, in which case the resulting hyperbolic manifold is a genus-2 handlebody. We also compute the Bowditch set, consisting of those representations for which no primitive elements in the group generated by X,Y are parabolic or elliptic, and at most finitely many …
We show that the notion of $3$-hyperconvexity on oriented flag manifolds defines a partial cyclic order. Using the notion of interval given by this partial cyclic order, we construct Schottky groups and show that they correspond to images of positive representations in the sense of Fock and Goncharov. We construct polyhedral fundamental domains for the domain of discontinuity that these groups admit in the projective space or the sphere, depending on the dimension.
In this paper we give a criterion for pairs of isometries of a nonpositively curved metric space to generate a free group. This criterion holds only in singular spaces, for example in Euclidean buildings. The original motivation for our criterion was to prove that the four dimensional Burau representation is faithful. Although we do not settle this question, we do exhibit a related 2-parameter family of faithful representations of the free group F_2.
We develop a theory of convex cocompact subgroups of the mapping class group MCG of a closed, oriented surface S of genus at least 2, in terms of the action on Teichmuller space. Given a subgroup G of MCG defining an extension L_G: 1--> pi_1(S) --> L_G --> G -->1 we prove that if L_G is a word hyperbolic group then G is a convex cocompact subgroup of MCG. When G is free and convex cocompact, called a "Schottky subgroup" of MCG, the converse is true as well; a semidirect product of pi_1(S) by a free group G is therefore word hyperbolic if and only if G is a Schottky subgroup of MCG. The special…
We give a criterion for a set of $n$ hyperbolic isometries of a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ metric space $X$ to generate a free group on $n$ generators. This extends a result by Alperin, Farb and Noskov who proved this for 2 generators under the additional assumption that $X$ is complete and has no fake zero angles. Moreover, when $X$ is locally compact, the group we obtain is also discrete.
We define a class of representations of the fundamental group of a closed surface of genus $2$ to $\mathrm{PSL}_2 (\mathbb C)$: the pentagon representations. We show that they are exactly the non-elementary $\mathrm{PSL}_2 (\mathbb C)$-representations of surface groups that do not admit a Schottky decomposition, i.e. a pants decomposition such that the restriction of the representation to each pair of pants is an isomorphism onto a Schottky group. In doing so, we exhibit a gap in the proof of Gallo, Kapovich and Marden that every non-elementary representation of a surface group to $\mathrm{PSL…
In this paper we provide the complete classification of convex cocompact Kleinian group of Hausdorff dimensions less than $1.$ In particular, we prove that every convex cocompact Kleinian group of Hausdorff dimension $<1$ is a classical Schottky group. This upper bound is sharp. The result implies that the converse of Burside's conjecture \cite{Burside} is true: All non-classical Schottky groups must have Hausdorff dimension $\ge1$. The prove of the theorem relies on the result of Hou \cite{Hou}.
In this paper we provide the complete classification of Kleinian groups of Hausdorff dimensions less than $1.$ In particular, we prove that every purely loxodromic Kleinian groups of Hausdorff dimension $<1$ is a classical Schottky group. This upper bound is sharp. As an application, the result of \cite{H} then implies that, every closed Riemann surface is uniformizable by a classical Schottky group. The prove relie on the result of Hou \cite{Hou}, and space of rectifiable $\G$-invariant closed curves.
Let G be a two generator subgroup of PSL(2,C). The Jorgensen number J(G) of G is defined by J(G)=inf{ |tr^2 A-4|+|tr[A,B]-2| ; G=<A,B>}. If G is a non-elementary Kleinian group, then J(G) >= 1. This inequality is called Jorgensen's inequality. In this paper, we show that, for any r >= 1, there exists a non-elementary Kleinian group whose Jorgensen number is equal to r. This answers a question posed by Oichi and Sato. We also present our computer generated picture which estimates Jorgensen numbers from above in the diagonal slice of Schottky space.
A non-elementary Möbius group generated by two-parabolics is determined up to conjugation by one complex parameter and the parameter space has been extensively studied. In this paper, we use the results of \cite{GW} to obtain an additional structure for the parameter space, which we term the {\sl two-parabolic space}. This structure allows us to identify groups that contain additional conjugacy classes of primitive parabolics, which following \cite{Indra} we call {\sl parabolic dust groups}, non-free groups off the real axis, and groups that are both parabolic dust and non-free; some of these …
