CAT(0) and CAT(-1) fillings of hyperbolic manifolds (Q616680): Difference between revisions

In this work new examples of hyperbolic and relatively hyperbolic groups of cohomological dimension \(d\) for all \(d\geq4,\) are given. The examples result from applying \(\text{CAT}(0)/\text{CAT}(-1)\) filling constructions to finite volume hyperbolic manifolds with toral cusps. The groups obtained have a number of interesting properties, which are established by analyzing their boundaries at infinity by a kind of Morse-theoretic technique. Let \(N\) be a flat torus of dimension \(n,\) and let \(T\) be a totally geodesic \(k\)-dimensional submanifold in \(N,\) \(1\leq k\leq n.\) \(N\) has Euclidean universal cover \(\mathbb{E}^{n}\rightarrow N\) and let \(\widetilde{T} \cong\mathbb{E}^{k}\) be a component of the preimage of \(T\) in \(\mathbb{E} ^{n}.\) Then, a fibration \(\widetilde{\pi}:\mathbb{E}^{n}\rightarrow \mathbb{E}^{n-k}\) is defined, where the fibers are parallel copies of \(\widetilde{T}.\) This fibration covers a fibration \(\pi:N\rightarrow B\) over some \((n-k)\)-torus \(B\). The \textit{partial cone} \(C(N,T)\) is defined as \(C(N,T)=N\times[0,1]/\sim,\) where \((t_{1},0)\sim(t_{2},1)\) if \(\pi (t_{1})=\pi(t_{2}).\) \(N\times0\) is referred to as the boundary of \(C(N,T)\) and \(V(N,T)=N\times1/\sim\) as the core of \(C(N,T).\) Now, let \(M\) be a hyperbolic \((n+1)\)-manifold of finite volume containing disjoint toral cusps \(E_{1},\dots,E_{m}\) and no other ends. Let \(\overline{M}\subset M\) be the manifold with boundary obtained by removing the interiors of the cusps. Let \(N_{1},\dots,N_{m}\) be the components of \(\partial\overline{M}\). For each such component \(N_{i}\) choose an embedded totally geodesic torus \(T_{i}\) of dimension \(k_{i}\) and form the partial cone \(C(N_{i},T_{i})\). Using the canonical identification \(\phi_{i}\) of \(\partial C(N_{i},T_{i})\) with \(N_{i}\) the space \(M(T_{1},\dots,T_{m})\) is defined as \(\overline{M}\cup_{\phi_{1} \sqcup\cdots\sqcup\phi_{m}}(C(N_{1},T_{1})\sqcup\cdots\sqcup C(N_{m},T_{m}))\) and it is referred to as the space obtained from \(M\) by filling along \(\{T_{1} ,\dots,T_{m}\}.\) The cores of \(C(N_{i},T_{i})\) are referred to as filling cores. If no \(T_{i}\) contains a geodesic of length \(2\pi\) or less, \(M(T_{1},\cdots,T_{m})\) is called a \(2\pi\)-filling of \(M.\) The first main result of the paper states that, under hypotheses exactly analogous to those used in the Gromov-Thurston \(2\pi\) theorem, a \(2\pi \)-filling \(M(T_{1},\dots,T_{m})\) of \(M\) can be equipped with a nice locally \(\text{CAT}(0)\) metric; moreover, if all the filling cores are zero or one dimensional, the metric can be chosen to be locally \(\text{CAT}(-1).\) Remark also that the constructed metric is identical to the original hyperbolic metric, away from a neighborhood of the filling cores. The second main result states that, if \(n\geq3\) then there are infinitely many \(2\pi\)-fillings of \(M\) whose fundamental groups are non-pairwise-isomorphic, torsion free, \((n+1)\)-dimensional hyperbolic groups, each of which acts geometrically on some \((n+1)\)-dimensional \(\text{CAT}(-1)\) space, and none of which is a closed aspherical manifold group. If \(n\geq4,\) then there are infinitely many \(2\pi\)-fillings of \(M\) whose fundamental groups are non-pairwise-isomorphic, torsion free, \((n+1)\)-dimensional relatively hyperbolic groups, each of which acts geometrically on some \((n+1)\)-dimensional \(\text{CAT}(0)\) space with isolated flats, and none of which is a closed aspherical manifold group. Flats of any dimension up to \((n-2)\) occur in infinitely many such fillings.