Geodesic planes in hyperbolic 3-manifolds (Q2407536)

Let \(M= \Gamma/\mathbb H^3\) be an oriented complete hyperbolic three-manifold, presented as the quotient of hyperbolic space by the action of a Kleinian group \[ \Gamma\subset G= \text{PGL}_2(\mathbb C)\cong \text{Isom}^+(\mathbb H^3). \] Let \(f:\mathbb H^2\to M\) be a geodesic plane, i.e., a totally geodesic immersion of a hyperbolic plane into \(M\). The authors often identify a geodesic plane with its image, \(P= f(\mathbb H^2)\) and regard \(P\) as a two-dimensional version of a Riemannian geodesic. It is natural to ask what the possibilities are for its closure \(V= \overline{f(\mathbb H^2)}\subset M\). When \(M\) has finite volume other authors showed that strong rigidity properties hold: Either \(V=M\) or \(V\) is a properly immersed surface of finite area. The goal of this paper is to show that the same type of rigidity persists for certain infinite-volume hyperbolic three-manifolds. In the case of an acylindrical three-manifold whose convex core has totally geodesic boundary the authors show that the closure of any immersed geodesic plane is a properly immersed submanifold of \(M\). On the other hand they show that the rigidity fails for the quasi-Fuchsian manifolds.