Hyperbolic triangular prisms with one ideal vertex (Q2192403)

Given a hyperbolic polyhedron, one can consider the group of hyperbolic isometries generated by the reflections in its faces. Such group is discrete if the dihedral angles of the polyhedron are integer submultiples of \(\pi\). Hyperbolic polyhedra having four faces, i.e. tetrahedra, and verifying this property have been classified by Lannér, Vinberg, and Thurston. In the paper under review, a class of polyhedra with the aforementioned property and five faces is studied. Combinatorially, the polyhedra of the class are triangular prisms. Under the extra assumption that one of the vertices of the polyhedra is at infinity, the authors determine their classification. The extra assumption reduces the possible values of the three dihedral angles adjacent to the vertex at infinity to a finite number of choices. The strategy of the proof consists in applying \textit{E. M. Andreev}'s theorem [Math. USSR, Sb. 10, 413--440 (1971; Zbl 0217.46801)], which provides necessary and sufficient conditions for a polyhedron with prescribed combinatorics and dihedral angles to be realisable in hyperbolic space. Once all the possible polyhedra are listed, the authors provide an explicit way to construct them based on elementary planar geometry and trigonometry. This boils down to determining the traces on the sphere at infinity of the hyperbolic planes that determine the faces of each polyhedron. This explicit description is then used to compute matrices that generate the index-two orientation-preserving subgroup of the discrete reflection group associated to the polyhedron. These polyhedra and groups had been previously studied by \textit{I. M. Kaplinskaya} [Math. Notes 15, 88--91 (1974; Zbl 0288.50014)].