Bounding laminations (Q1109379)

Consider a hyperbolic surface S, bounding a 3-dimensional handlebody V (or, more generally, a compression body). A geodesic lamination on S is a closed union of disjoint simple geodesics. The article is concerned with the following question: When is such a lamination the Hausdorff limit of a sequence of simple closed geodesics which are homotopic to 0 in V? If this property holds, the geodesic lamination is said to bound in V. The motivation for this problem comes from the analysis of the cobordism group of surface diffeomorphisms [the reviewer, Ann. Sci. Ec. Norm. Super., IV. Ser. 16, 237-270 (1983; Zbl 0535.57016); \textit{A. Edmonds} and \textit{J. Ewing}, Math. Ann. 259, 497-505 (1982; Zbl 0479.57018); \textit{A. J. Casson} and \textit{D. D. Long}, Invent. Math. 81, 295-303 (1985; Zbl 0589.57008)]. The author gives a criterion for a pair of transverse geodesic laminations on S to simultaneously bound in V, in terms of the asymptotic properties of the leaves of their lifts to the universal covering of V. As a corollary he shows that, given two transverse minimal laminations on a hyperbolic surface S, there are essentially only finitely many handlebodies V bounded by S where the two laminations bound. He also discusses some applications to the cobordism of surface diffeomorphisms.