Coxeter decompositions of hyperbolic polygons (Q1272786)

Let \(P\) be a polygon in the hyperbolic plane \(H^{2}\). A Coxeter decomposition of \(P\) is a non trivial decomposition of \(P\) into finitely many Coxeter polygons \(F_{i},\) such that any two polygons \(F_{i}\) and \(F_{j}\) having a common side are symmetric with respect to this common side. The polygons \(F_{i}\) are called fundamental polygons for the respective decomposition of \(P\). This paper gives a classification of the Coxeter decompositions of triangles, quadrilaterals and ideal polygons. The author starts proving some properties of triangles admitting a Coxeter decomposition. Some examples of these lemmas are a) the fundamental polygon is a Coxeter triangle, b) the fundamental triangle has a right angle, c) the decomposition of a triangle \(\Delta ABC\) admitting a Coxeter decomposition such that all angles of \(\Delta ABC\) are fundamental is determined and cannot be part of a larger Coxeter decomposition of a triangle. Let \(P\) be a triangle admitting a Coxeter decomposition which is different from the special one mentioned in the previous paragraph. Then \(P\) has a non-fundamental angle, i.e. \(P\) consists of two smaller triangles, and the decomposition of these smaller triangles is also different from the decomposition mentioned above. If any of these smaller angles is not fundamental, it has a non-fundamental angle. The process continues until in the last step all parts are fundamental. In order to obtain a classification of the Coxeter decomposition of triangles this process is inverted giving an inductive finite procedure. The process to obtain the classification of quadrilaterals is analogous to this one. For ideal polygons, the author just gives the classification for minimal decompositions, but since any Coxeter decomposition of an ideal polygon can be obtained from a minimal decomposition by finitely many blowings and glueings, the general case can be obtained through the use of the blowing up and glueing, and their inverses, dividing and retracting.