Strict hyperbolization (Q1804903)

In \textit{M. Gromov} [Hyperbolic groups, Essays in group theory, Publ., Math. Sci. Res. Inst. 8, 75-263 (1987; Zbl 0634.20015)] some procedures were described for converting a cell complex \(K\) into a new polyhedron \({\mathcal X} (K)\), called a hyperbolization of \(K\), which admits a piecewise Euclidean metric of nonpositive curvature. In that paper, Gromov also claims that in two of his constructions the metric can be perturbed so that the curvature is strictly negative, but this fact is false as pointed out by the authors. Thus the authors are motivated to introduce and develop a procedure in which the result has curvature bounded above by some negative number, called a strict hyperbolization. As an application, they prove that any PL-manifold is cobordant to a PL- manifold of strictly negative curvature.