3-manifold groups and nonpositive curvature (Q1271404)

The main results are as follows: Theorem 1.1: Let \(M\) be a Haken manifold of zero Euler characteristic (which is neither Nil nor Sol), equipped with a Riemannian metric. Then there exists a compact nonpositively curved 3-manifold \(N\) with totally-geodesic flat boundary and a bi-Lipschitz homeomorphism between the universal covers of \(M\) and \(N\) which preserves the canonical decomposition. In particular, the fundamental groups \(\pi_1(M)\) and \(\pi_1(N)\) are quasi-isometric. The theorem has several direct implications for the large-scale geometry of 3-manifold groups \(\pi_1(M)\): 1. The fundamental groups of geometric components are undistorted (quasi-isometrically embedded) in \(\pi_1(M)\). Moreover there are coarse Lipschitz retractions from \(\pi_1(M)\) to the fundamental group of its geometric components. 2. If \(M\) is not Nil or Sol then all rank-two abelian subgroups are undistorted and quasi minimize area. 3. The isoperimetric inequality for \(\pi_1(M)\) is exponential if \(M\) is Sol, cubic if \(M\) is Nil, linear if \(M\) is closed hyperbolic and quadratic otherwise. This was previously known. Theorem 2.3. Let \(M\) be a graph-manifold equipped with a Riemannian metric. Then there is a nonpositively curved flip manifold \(N\) and a bi-Lipschitz homeomorphism between the universal covers \(\widetilde M\) and \(\widetilde N\) which preserves their canonical decompositions. As a consequence, the fundamental group of any graph-manifold \(M\) is quasi isometric to the fundamental group of a flip manifold. Furthermore, the fundamental group of any graph-manifold \(M\) is quasi-isometric to the fundamental group of a manifold fibered over the circle.