Small dilatation pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms and 3-manifolds (Q639559)

For a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism \(\phi:S\rightarrow S\) between surfaces of genus \(\geq 2\) there exists a local Euclidean structure (with singularities) and two linear foliations (called stable and unstable foliation) such that \(\phi\) shrinks the leaves of the unstable foliation by a factor \(\lambda\) and expands the leaves of the stable foliation by the same factor. The dilatation \(\lambda\left(\phi\right)\) is, by definition, this shrinking/expanding factor. For a fixed constant \(P\) one denotes \[ \begin{aligned} \Psi_P &=\left\{\phi:S\rightarrow S: \phi\text{ is pseudo-Anosov}, \chi\left(S\right)<0, \lambda\left(\phi\right)\leq P^\frac{1}{-\chi\left(S\right)}\right\},\\ \Psi_P^0 &=\left\{\phi\mid_{S^0}:S^0\rightarrow S^0: \phi\in\Psi_P\right\},\end{aligned} \] where \(S^0\subset S\) is the surface obtained by removing the singularities of the stable/unstable foliation of \(\phi\). It follows from work of \textit{R. C. Penner} [``Bounds on least dilatations'', Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 113, No. 2, 443--450 (1991; Zbl 0726.57013)] that \(\Psi_P\) (and hence \(\Psi_P^0\)) is infinite for sufficiently large \(P\). However, the main result of the paper under review shows that there is only a finite number (up to homeomorphism) of mapping tori for maps in \(\Psi_P^0\). In particular (because hyperbolic volume is decreased by Dehn fillings) this implies that the hyperbolic volume of the mapping torus for \(\phi\in \Psi_P\) is bounded by a constant depending only on \(P\). An explicit value for this constant was proven in a recent preprint by \textit{I. Agol} [``Ideal triangulations of pseudo-Anosov mapping tori'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1008.1606}].