Curve complexes are rigid (Q549087)

The curve complex of a surface was introduced into the study of Teichmüller space by \textit{W. J. Harvey} [Riemann surfaces and related topics: Proc. 1978 Stony Brook Conf., Ann. Math. Stud. 97, 245--251 (1981; Zbl 0461.30036)] as an analogue of the Tits building of a symmetric space. The present paper deals with geometric structure of the curve complex (see \textit{H. A. Masur} and \textit{Y. N. Minsky} [Invent. Math. 138, No.~1, 103--149 (1999; Zbl 0941.32012) and Geom. Funct. Anal. 10, No.~4, 902--974 (2000; Zbl 0972.32011)]) of an orientable connected compact surface \(S\), in case the complexity \(\xi(S)\) of \(S\) is greater or equal to two, where \(\xi(S)=3g-3+b\), \(g\) (resp. \(b\)) being the genus (resp. the number of boundary components) of \(S\). By making use of the notions of cobounded ending lamination and of marking complex, together with some key results due to \textit{D. Gabai} [Geom. Topol. 13, No.~2, 1017--1041 (2009; Zbl 1165.57015)] and to \textit{J. Behrstock, B. Kleiner, Y. Minsky} and \textit{L. Mosher} [Geometry and rigidity of mapping class groups, \url{arXiv:0801.2006}], the authors prove that any quasi-isometry of the curve complex is bounded distance from a simplicial automorphism. As a consequence, the quasi-isometry type of the curve complex determines the homeomorphism type of the surface.