Higher rank hyperbolicity (Q785932)

Let \((X,d)\) be a proper metric space. The asymptotic rank of \(X\), \(\operatorname{asrk}(X)\) is defined as the supremal \(k\) for which there exist a sequence \(r_{i}\rightarrow\infty\) and subsets \(Y_{i}\subset X\) such that the rescaled sets (\(Y_i, r_{i}^{-1}d\)) converge in the Gromov-Hausdorff topology to the unit ball in some \(k\)-dimensional normed space. (When \(X\) is a cocomapct CAT(0) space, the asymptotic rank \(\operatorname{asrk}(X)\) equals the maximal dimension of an isometrically embedded Euclidean space.) We say \(X\) satisfies a condition (\(\mathrm{AR}_n\)) if \(\operatorname{asrk}(X)\leq n\). Moreover, \(X\) satisfies a (\(\mathrm{CI}_n\)) condition if there are a constant \(c\) such that any two points \(x,x'\) in \(X\) can be joined by a curve of length \(\leq cd(x,x')\), and for \(k = 1,2,\dots,n\), every \(k\)-cycle \(R\) in some \(r\)-ball bounds a (\(k+1\))-chain \(S\) with mass \(\mathbf{M}(S)\leq cr\mathbf{M}(R)\). The large-scale geometry of hyperbolic metric spaces exhibits many distinctive features, such as the stability of quasi-geodesics (the Morse lemma), the visibility property, and the homeomorphism between visual boundaries induced by a quasi-isometry. In the paper under review, the authors prove a number of closely analogous results for spaces with asymptotic rank \(n\geq 2\) in an asymptotic sense, under some weak assumptions reminiscent of nonpositive curvature. For example, the following higher rank analogy of the \(\delta\)-slim property (\(\delta\geq 0\)) of triangles from Gromov hyperbolic space is proved. Theorem 1.1. (slim simplices) Let \(X\) be a proper metric spave satisfying conditions (\(\mathrm{CI}_n\)) and (\(\mathrm{AR}_n\)) for some \(n\geq 1\). Let \(\Delta\) be a Euclidean (\(n+1\))-simplex, and let \(f:\partial\Delta\to X\) be a map such that for every facet \(W\) of \(\Delta\), the restriction \(f|_{W}\) is an (\(L,a\))-quasi-isometric embedding. Then, for every facet \(W\), the image \(f(W)\) is contained in the closed \(D\)-neighborhood of \(\overline{f(\partial\Delta\setminus W)}\) for some constant \(D = D(X,n,L,a)\). Here, \(\Delta\) is the convex hull of a set of \(n+2\) points in \(\mathbb{R}^{n+1}\) such that \(\Delta\) has non-empty interior, and a facet of \(\Delta\) is a convex hull of \(n+1\) of them. One of the methods used in the paper is replacing quasi-geodesic lines by quasi-minimizing (localy finite) \(n\)-cycles of \(r^n\) volume growth; prime examples include \(n\)-cycles associated with \(n\)-quasiflats. Solving an asymptotic Plateau problem and producing unique tangent cones at infinity for such cycles, the authors show in particular that every quasi-isometry between two proper CAT(0) spaces of asymptotic rank \(n\) extends to a class of \((n-1)\)-cycles in the Tits boundaries.