Hyperplane arrangements in negatively curved manifolds and relative hyperbolicity. (Q1943728)

The authors consider a connected, complete, finite volume Riemannian manifold \(M\) whose sectional curvature satisfies \(\varkappa\leq\text{sec}(M)\leq-1\) for some constant \(\varkappa\). Suppose that \(S\subset M\) is a subset whose image in the universal cover of \(M\) is the union of a locally finite family \(\mathcal D\) of hyperplanes, i.e., complete totally geodesic manifolds of codimension \(2\). Suppose \(M\) contains a closed, locally convex subset \(V\) such that \(M\setminus V\) is nonempty and precompact in \(M\), and \(S\) lies in the interior of \(V\). Let \(m=\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor\). Suppose that the hyperplanes in the collection \(\mathcal D\) are either disjoint or orthogonal and if for any point \(p\) on hyperplanes \(h_1,\ldots,h_k\) in \(\mathcal D\) there is a linear isomorphism of the tangent space at \(p\) onto \(\mathbb R^{n-2m}\times\mathbb C^m\) mapping the tangent space to each \(h_i\) to the product of \(\mathbb R^{n-2m}\) with a coordinate hyperplane in \(\mathbb C^m\). (This condition is described by saying that the set \(S\) corresponding to \(\mathcal D\) is normal.) The authors use ideas of \textit{B. H. Bowditch} [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 22, No. 3, 1250016 (2012; Zbl 1259.20052)] to show in the situation described above, \(\pi_1(M\setminus S)\) is non-elementary relatively hyperbolic, where peripheral subgroups are the fundamental groups of components of \(V\setminus S\); each component of \(V\setminus S\) is aspherical and its inclusion into \(M\setminus S\) is \(\pi_1\)-injective.