Thurston's Ending Lamination Conjecture states that a hyperbolic 3-manifold N with finitely generated fundamental group is uniquely determined by its topological type and its end invariants. In this paper we prove this conjecture for Kleinian surface groups; the general case when N has incompressible ends relative to its cusps follows readily. The main ingredient is the establishment of a uniformly bilipschitz model for a Kleinian surface group. The first half of the proof appeared in math.GT/0302208, and a subsequent paper will establish the Ending Lamination Conjecture in general.
For geometrically finite Kleinian surface groups, Bonahon and Otal proved the existence part, and partly the uniqueness part of the bending lamination conjecture. In this paper, we generalise the existence part to general Kleinian surface groups including geometrically infinite ones. We furthermore prove the compactness of the set of Kleinian surface groups realising an arbitrarily fixed data of bending laminations and ending laminations. Our proof is independent of that of Bonahon and Otal.
We show that if S is a finite type orientable surface of negative Euler characteristic which is not the 3-holed sphere, 4-holed sphere or 1-holed torus, then the ending lamination space of S is connected, locally path connected and cyclic.
In this paper we construct examples of Weil-Petersson geodesics with nonminimal ending laminations which have 1-dimensional limit sets in the Thurston compactification of Teichmüller space.
Yair Minsky showed that punctured torus groups are classified by a pair of ending laminations (ν_-,ν_+). In this note, we show that there are ending laminations ν_+ such that for any choice of ν_-, the punctured torus group is transcendental as a subgroup of PSL_2 C.
We define an ending lamination for a Weil-Petersson geodesic ray. Despite the lack of a natural visual boundary for the Weil-Petersson metric, these ending laminations provide an effective boundary theory that encodes much of its asymptotic CAT(0) geometry. In particular, we prove an ending lamination theorem (Theorem 1.1) for the full-measure set of rays that recur to the thick part, and we show that the association of an ending lamination embeds asymptote classes of recurrent rays into the Gromov-boundary of the curve complex. As an application, we establish fundamentals of the topological d…
We show that if S is a finite type orientable surface of genus g and p punctures where 3g+p > 4, then EL(S) is (n-1)-connected and (n-1)-locally connected where dim(PML(S))=2n+1=6g+2p-7. Furthermore, if g=0, then EL(S) is homeomorphic to the p-4 dimensional Nobeling space.
We construct Weil-Petersson (WP) geodesic rays with minimal filling non-uniquely ergodic ending lamination which are recurrent to a compact subset of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. This construction shows that an analogue of the Masur's criterion for Teichmüller geodesics does not hold for WP geodesics.
We present a new proof of the bi-Lipschitz model theorem, which occupies the main part of the Ending Lamination Conjecture proved by Minsky and Brock-Canary-Minsky. Our proof is done by using techniques of standard hyperbolic geometry as much as possible.
In earlier work, we had shown that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for Kleinian surface groups. In this paper we prove that pre-images of points are precisely end-points of leaves of the ending lamination whenever the Cannon-Thurston map is not one-to-one. In particular, the Cannon-Thurston map is finite-to-one. This completes the proof of the conjectural picture of Cannon-Thurston maps for surface groups.
In earlier work, we had shown that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for Kleinian punctured surface groups without accidental parabolics. In this note we prove that pre-images of points are precisely end-points of leaves of the ending lamination whenever the Cannon-Thurston map is not one-to-one. This extends earlier work done for closed surface groups.
We consider a compact orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold with a compressible boundary. Suppose that we are given a sequence of geometrically finite hyperbolic metrics whose conformal boundary structures at infinity diverge to a projective lamination. We prove that if this limit projective lamination is doubly incompressible, then the sequence has compact closure in the deformation space. As a consequence we generalise Thurston's double limit theorem and solve his conjecture on convergence of function groups affirmatively.
We give the first part of a proof of Thurston's Ending Lamination conjecture. In this part we show how to construct from the end invariants of a Kleinian surface group a ``Lipschitz model'' for the thick part of the corresponding hyperbolic manifold. This enables us to describe the topological structure of the thick part, and to give a-priori geometric bounds.
We explicate a number of notions of algebraic laminations existing in the literature, particularly in the context of an exact sequence $$1\to H\to G \to Q \to 1 $$ of hyperbolic groups. These laminations arise in different contexts: existence of Cannon-Thurston maps; closed geodesics exiting ends of manifolds; dual to actions on $\R-$trees. We use the relationship between these laminations to prove quasiconvexity results for finitely generated infinite index subgroups of $H$, the normal subgroup in the exact sequence above.
We characterize which cobounded quasigeodesics in the Teichmueller space T of a closed surface are at bounded distance from a geodesic. More generally, given a cobounded lipschitz path gamma in T, we show that gamma is a quasigeodesic with finite Hausdorff distance from some geodesic if and only if the canonical hyperbolic plane bundle over gamma is a hyperbolic metric space. As an application, for complete hyperbolic 3-manifolds N with finitely generated, freely indecomposable fundamental group and with bounded geometry, we give a new construction of model geometries for the geometrically inf…
We prove that for any closed surface of genus at least four, and any punctured surface of genus at least two, the space of ending laminations is connected. A theorem of E. Klarreich implies that this space is homeomorphic to the Gromov boundary of the complex of curves. It follows that the boundary of the complex of curves is connected in these cases, answering the conjecture of P. Storm. Other applications include the rigidity of the complex of curves and connectivity of spaces of degenerate Kleinian groups.
We show that a Kleinian surface group, or hyperbolic 3-manifold with a cusp-preserving homotopy-equivalence to a surface, has bounded geometry if and only if there is an upper bound on an associated collection of coefficients that depend only on its end invariants. Bounded geometry is a positive lower bound on the lengths of closed geodesics. When the surface is a once-punctured torus, the coefficients coincide with the continued fraction coefficients associated to the ending laminations. Applications include an improvement to the bounded geometry versions of Thurston's ending lamination conje…
We show that some laminar group which has an invariant veering pair of laminations is a hyperbolic 3-orbifold group. On the way, we show that from a veering pair of laminations, one can construct a loom space (in the sense of Schleimer-Segerman) as a quotient. Our approach does not assume the existence of any 3-manifold to begin with so this is a geometrization-type result, and supersedes some of the results regarding the relation among veering triangulations, pseudo-Anosov flows, taut foliations in the literature.
We examine the internal geometry of a Kleinian surface group and its relations to the asymptotic geometry of its ends, using the combinatorial structure of the complex of curves on the surface. Our main results give necessary conditions for the Kleinian group to have `bounded geometry' (lower bounds on injectivity radius) in terms of a sequence of coefficients (subsurface projections) computed using the ending invariants of the group and the complex of curves. These results are directly analogous to those obtained in the case of punctured-torus surface groups. In that setting the ending invari…
We show that the strong asymptotic class of Weil-Petersson (WP) geodesics with narrow end invariant and bounded annular coefficients is determined by the forward ending lamination. This generalizes the Recurrent Ending Lamination Theorem of Brock-Masur-Minsky. As an application we provide a symbolic condition for divergence of WP geodesic rays in the moduli space.
Consider a geometrically finite Kleinian group $G$ without parabolic or elliptic elements, with its Kleinian manifold $M=(\H^3\cup Ω_G)/G$. Suppose that for each boundary component of $M$, either a maximal and connected measured lamination in the Masur domain or a marked conformal structure is given. In this setting, we shall prove that there is an algebraic limit $Γ$ of quasi-conformal deformations of $G$ such that there is a homeomorphism $h$ from $\mathrm{Int} M$ to $\H^3/Γ$ compatible with the natural isomorphism from $G$ to $Γ$, the given laminations are unrealisable in $\H^3/Γ$, and the …
We prove a continuity property for ending invariants of convergent sequences of Kleinian surface groups. We also analyze the bounded curve sets of such groups and show that their projections to non-annular subsurfaces lie a bounded Hausdorff distance from geodesics joining the projections of the ending invariants.
We characterize sequences of Kleinian surface groups with convergent subsequences in terms of the asymptotic behavior of the ending invariants of the associated hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Asymptotic behavior of end invariants in a convergent sequence predicts the parabolic locus of the algebraic limit as well as how the algebraic limit wraps within the geometric limit under the natural locally isometric covering map.
In this paper we prove that the limit set of any Weil-Petersson geodesic ray with uniquely ergodic ending lamination is a single point in the Thurston compactification of Teichmüller space. On the other hand, we construct examples of Weil-Petersson geodesics with minimal nonuniquely ergodic ending laminations and limit set a circle in the Thurston compactification.
For a torsion free Kleinian group $Γ$ without parabolics, we consider the decomposition of the limit set $L(Γ)$ into conical and ending limit sets and compare the Patterson-Sullivan measure with the harmonic measure on $L(Γ)$ when $L(Γ)=S^2_\infty$.
These revised lecture notes are an expository account of part of the proof of Thurston's Ending Lamination Conjecture for Kleinian surface groups, which states that such groups are uniquely determined by invariants that describe the asymptotic structure of the ends of their quotient manifolds.
Thurston and Calegari-Dunfield showed that the fundamental group of some tautly foliated hyperbolic 3-manifold acts on the circle in a distinctive way that the action preserves some structure of S^1, so-called a circle lamination. Indeed, a large class of Kleinian groups acts on the circle preserving a circle lamination. In this paper, we are concerned with the converse problem that a group acting on the circle with at least two invariant circle laminations is Kleinian. We prove that a subgroup of the orientation preserving circle homeomorphism group is a Fuchsian group whose quotient orbifold…
We show that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for degenerate free groups without parabolics, i.e. for handlebody groups. Combining these techniques with earlier work proving the existence of Cannon-Thurston maps for surface groups, we show that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for arbitrary finitely generated Kleinian groups without parabolics, proving conjectures of Thurston and McMullen. We also show that point pre-images under Cannon-Thurston maps for degenerate free groups without parabolics correspond to end-points of leaves of an ending lamination in the Masur domain, whenever a point has more than …
Let (X,d) be a tree (T) of hyperbolic metric spaces satisfying the quasi-isometrically embedded condition. Let $v$ be a vertex of $T$. Let $({X_v},d_v)$ denote the hyperbolic metric space corresponding to $v$. Then $i : X_v \rightarrow X$ extends continuously to a map $\hat{i} : \widehat{X_v} \rightarrow \widehat{X}$. This generalizes a Theorem of Cannon and Thurston. The techniques are used to give a new proof of a result of Minsky: Thurston's ending lamination conjecture for certain Kleinian groups. Applications to graphs of hyperbolic groups and local connectivity of limit sets of Kleinian …
We shall show that for a given homeomorphism type and a set of end invariants (including the parabolic locus) with necessary topological conditions which a topologically tame Kleinian group with that homeomorphism type must satisfy, there is an algebraic limit of minimally parabolic, geometrically finite Kleinian groups which has exactly that homeomorphism type and end invariants. This shows that the Bers-Sullivan-Thurston density conjecture follows from Marden's conjecture proved by Agol, Calegari-Gabai combined with Thurston's uniformisation theorem and the ending lamination conjecture prove…
Any action of a group $Γ$ on $\mathbb H^3$ by isometries yields a class in degree three bounded cohomology by pulling back the volume cocycle to $Γ$. We prove that the bounded cohomology of finitely generated Kleinian groups without parabolic elements distinguishes the asymptotic geometry of geometrically infinite ends of hyperbolic $3$-manifolds. That is, if two homotopy equivalent hyperbolic manifolds with infinite volume and without parabolic cusps have different geometrically infinite end invariants, then they define a $2$ dimensional subspace of bounded cohomology. Our techniques apply to…
We prove the existence of Cannon-Thurston maps for Kleinian groups corresponding to pared manifolds whose boundary is incompressible away from cusps. We also describe the structure of these maps in terms of ending laminations.
In this paper, we classify completely hyperbolic 3-manifolds corresponding to geometric limits of Kleinian surface groups isomorphic to $π_1(S)$ for a finite-type hyperbolic surface $S$. In the first of the three main theorems, we construct bi-Lipschitz model manifolds for such hyperbolic 3-manifolds, which have a structure called brick decomposition and are embedded in $S \times (0,1)$. In the second theorem, we show that conversely, any such model manifold admitting a brick decomposition with reasonable conditions is bi-Lipschitz homeomorphic to a hyperbolic manifold corresponding to some ge…
Thurston's ending lamination conjecture proposes that a finitely generated Kleinian group is uniquely determined (up to isometry) by the topology of its quotient and a list of invariants that describe the asymptotic geometry of its ends. We present a proof of this conjecture for punctured-torus groups. These are free two-generator Kleinian groups with parabolic commutator, which should be thought of as representations of the fundamental group of a punctured torus. As a consequence we verify the conjectural topological description of the deformation space of punctured-torus groups (including Be…
We study Weil-Petersson (WP) geodesics with narrow end invariant and develop techniques to control length-functions and twist parameters along them and prescribe their itinerary in the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. This class of geodesics is rich enough to provide for examples of closed WP geodesics in the thin part of the moduli space, as well as divergent WP geodesic rays with minimal filling ending lamination. Some ingredients of independent interest are the following: A strength version of Wolpert's Geodesic Limit Theorem proved in Sec.4. The stability of hierarchy resolution paths bet…
When 1 -> H -> G -> Q -> 1 is a short exact sequence of three infinite, word-hyperbolic groups, Mahan Mitra (Mj) has shown that the inclusion map from H to G extends continuously to a map between the Gromov boundaries of H and G. This boundary map is known as the Cannon-Thurston map. In this context, Mitra associates to every point z in the Gromov boundary of Q an "ending lamination" on H which consists of pairs of distinct points in the boundary of H. We prove that for each such z, the quotient of the Gromov boundary of H by the equivalence relation generated by this ending lamination is a de…
We develop a ``canonical Wick rotation-rescaling theory in 3-dimensional gravity''. This includes: (a) A simultaneous classification that shows how generic maximal globally hyperbolic spacetimes of constant curvature, which admit a complete Cauchy surface (in particular a compact one), as well as complex projective structures on arbitrary surfaces, are all encoded by pairs (H,L), H being a ``straight convex sets'' in the hyperbolic plane, and L a ``measured geodesic laminations'' suitably defined on H. (b) Canonical geometric correlations: spacetimes of different curvature, that share a same e…
We generalize the notion of tight geodesics in the curve complex to tight trees. We then use tight trees to construct model geometries for certain surface bundles over graphs. This extends some aspects of the combinatorial model for doubly degenerate hyperbolic 3-manifolds developed by Brock, Canary, and Minsky during the course of their proof of the Ending Lamination Theorem. Thus we obtain uniformly Gromov-hyperbolic geometric model spaces equipped with geometric $G-$actions, where $G$ admits an exact sequence of the form $$1 \to π_1(S) \to G \to Q \to 1.$$ Here $S$ is a closed surface of ge…
This article was born as a generalisation of the analysis made by Series, where she made the first attempt to plot a deformation space of Kleinian group of more than 1 complex dimension. We use the Top Terms' Relationship proved by the author and Series to determine the asymptotic directions of pleating rays in the Maskit embedding of a hyperbolic surface S as the bending measure of the `top' surface in the boundary of the convex core tends to zero. The Maskit embedding M of a surface S is the space of geometrically finite groups on the boundary of quasifuchsian space for which the `top' end i…
