Hausdorff dimension of limit sets (Q1681809)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete non-elementary subgroup of \(\mathrm{PU}(1, n)\), the projective unitary group associated with an hermitian form of signature \((1, n)\). It is known [\textit{C. J. Bishop} and \textit{P. W. Jones}, Acta Math. 179, No. 1, 1--39 (1997; Zbl 0921.30032)] that the Hausdorff dimension of the conical limit set \(\Lambda_{\Gamma}^{\mathrm c}\) with respect to the Gromov metric on the boundary, denoted by \(\dim(\Lambda_{\Gamma}^{\mathrm c})\), is equal to the growth exponent \(\delta_{\Gamma}\) of \(\Gamma\). The present paper studies the dimension of \(\Lambda_{\Gamma}^{\mathrm c}\) with respect to the natural Euclidean metric on the boundary, denoted by \(\dim_{\mathrm E}( \Lambda_{\Gamma}^{\mathrm c})\). The main result is that if \(\Gamma\) is Zariski dense, with finite Bowen-Margulis-Sullivan measure, then \[ \dim_{\mathrm{E}}(\Lambda_{\Gamma}^{\mathrm{c}})\geq \delta_{\Gamma}-\frac{1}{2}{\dim}(\lambda, Z),\tag{1} \] where \(\dim(\lambda, Z)\) can be interpreted as the dimension of Patterson-Sullivan measure along the central direction. Since \(\dim(\lambda, Z)\) lies between \(0\) and \(\inf\{\delta_{\Gamma}, 2\}\), the lower bound in (1) improves a general result of \textit{Z. M. Balogh} et al. [Adv. Math. 220, No. 2, 560--619 (2009; Zbl 1155.22011)]. It also has two interesting consequences: one is \(\dim_{\mathrm E}( \Lambda_{\Gamma})\geq \delta_{\Gamma}-1\) if furthermore \(\Gamma\) is not a lattice, where \( \Lambda_{\Gamma}\) is the limit set of \(\Gamma\); the other is \(\dim_{\mathrm E}( \Lambda_{\Gamma})=\delta_{\Gamma}\) for a class of Schottky subgroups in good position. A key point in the proof of (1) is a version of Ledrappier-Young's formula (Theorem 23), which implies \[ \delta_{\Gamma}={\dim}(\lambda, Z)+{\dim}^{{\mathrm T}}(\lambda, N/Z), \] where \(N\) is the unipotent group for \(\mathbf{PU}(1, n)\). Hence (1) follows since \[ \underline{\dim}(\mu, \xi)\geq \frac{1}{2}{\dim}(\lambda, Z)+{\dim}^{{\mathrm T}}(\lambda, N/Z) \] for some Patterson-Sullivan measure \(\mu\) of exponent \(\delta_{\Gamma}\) and almost every \(\xi\) in the boundary, where \(\underline{\dim}(\mu, \xi)\) denotes the lower pointwise dimension of \(\mu\) at \(\xi\) with respect to the Euclidean metric on the boundary.