Escaping geodesics of Riemannian surfaces (Q5960878)

Let \(M\) be a surface and let \(P\) a point of \(M\). We denote by \(S(P) =S(M,P)\) the circle of unit vectors in the tangent plane of \(M\) at \(P\). We are interested in the size of the set \(\varepsilon(P)=\varepsilon (M,P)\) of directions \(v\in S(P)\) such that the unit-speed geodesic \(Y\) starting from \(P\) in the direction of \(v\) \((\gamma^{'}(0)=v)\) escapes to \(\infty\), i.e., \(\lim_{t\rightarrow \infty} \text{dist}(\gamma(t),P)=+\infty\), where ``dist'' means geodesic distance in \(M\). This paper deals with hyperbolic Riemannian surfaces. The main results can be stated as follows: (i) If \(M\) has finite area, then for every \(p\in M\) there is exactly a countable set of directions in \(\varepsilon(P)\). (ii) If \(M\) is transient, then for every \(p\in M\), \(\varepsilon(P)\) has full measure. (iii) If \(M\) is recurrent and of infinite area, then \(\varepsilon(P)\) has length zero, but its Hausdorff dimension is 1.