The geodesic flow of geometrically finite quotients of Hilbert geometries (Q403418)

A Hilbert geometry is a metric space \((\Omega, d)\), where \(\Omega\) is an open properly convex subset of \(\mathbb{P}^{n}(\mathbb{R})\) and \(d\) is the metric defined by \(d(x,y) = 1/2 |\ln [(px \cdot qy) / (qx \cdot py)]|\), where \(x\), \(y\) are distinct points of \(\Omega\) and \(p\), \(q\) are the points where the line \(\overline{xy}\) meets \(\partial \Omega\), the boundary of \(\Omega\). The metric \(d\) is in fact a Finsler metric. In the sequel, we assume that the set \(\Omega\) is strictly convex, which the authors also assume in this article. This hypothesis ensures that the geodesics of \((\Omega, d)\) are exactly the straight lines \(\overline{xy}\). Note that every subray of a straight line \(\overline{xy}\) has infinite length. Let \(H\Omega = T\Omega - \{0 \}/ \mathbb{R}^{+}\). Given a positive number \(t\) and a point \((x,\xi) \in H\Omega\) one defines \(\varphi^{t}(x,\xi)\) to be the point in \(H\Omega\) obtained by following for time \(t\) the geodesic line with initial velocity \((x,\xi)\). The geodesic flow \(\{\varphi^{t} \}\) on \(H\Omega\) is defined by a differential equation if \(\partial \Omega\) is \(C^{2}\). If \(\partial \Omega\) is \(C^{1}\), then \(TH\Omega\) has a splitting \(\mathbb{R} \cdot X \oplus E^{s} \oplus E^{u}\), where \(X\) is the vector field on \(TH\Omega\) generating the flow \(\{\varphi^{t} \}\), \(E^{s}\) is a stable distribution and \(E^{u}\) is an unstable distribution, both invariant under the geodesic flow. Benoist has shown that if \(\Omega\) has a compact quotient \(M = \Omega / \Gamma\), where \(\Gamma\) is a discrete group of rigid motions of \(\Omega\), then the geodesic flow of \(M\) is Anosov (i.e., uniformly hyperbolic). The authors show that this is not always the case for geometrically finite spaces \(M = \Omega / \Gamma\). In particular, they construct a geometrically finite manifold \(M\) with a zero Lyapunov exponent. However, they show that if \(\partial \Omega\) is \(C^{1}\) and \(M = \Omega / \Gamma\) is geometrically finite with asymptotically hyperbolic cusps, then the geodesic flow is uniformly hyperbolic on its non-wandering set NW. If \(M = \Omega / \Gamma\) is an arbitrary quotient of \(\Omega\) by a non-elementary group \(\Gamma\), then the authors also show that the geodesic flow is topologically mixing on the set NW. The authors show that if \(\partial \Omega\) is \(C^{1}\) and \(M = \Omega / \Gamma\) is a geometrically finite quotient with asymptotically hyperbolic cusps, then there exists a positive number \(\epsilon\) such that \( \partial \Omega\) is \(C^{1+ \epsilon}\) at every point in the limit set of \(\Gamma\). In particular, if \(M\) has finite volume, then every point of \(\partial \Omega\) lies in the limit set of \(\Gamma\). One defines the volume entropy \(h_{\text{vol}}(\Omega) = \lim\sup_{R \rightarrow + \infty}(1/R) \log\text{Vol}_{\Omega}B(x,R)\), where \(B(x,R)\) denotes the ball with center \(x\) and radius \(R\). The volume entropy is the same for all base points \(x\) of \(\Omega\). Similarly, for a discrete group \(\Gamma\) of rigid motions of \(\Omega\), one defines the critical exponent \(\delta_{\Gamma} = \lim\sup_{R \rightarrow + \infty}(1/R) \log |\{\gamma \in \Gamma : d(x,\gamma(x)) \leq R \}|\), where \(x\) is a point of \(\Omega\). The authors show that if \(\Omega /\Gamma\) has finite volume, then the volume entropy equals the critical exponent.