Tits alternative for closed real analytic 4-manifolds of nonpositive curvature. (Q1421987)

The Tits alternative represents the following question: Let \(G\) be a group acting properly and cocompactly by isometries on a Hadamard space \(X\). Is it true that every subgroup \(H \subset G\) contains either a finite index free Abelian subgroup or a free group of rank \(2\)? One of the main results of the paper states that the Tits alternative holds for subgroups of \(\pi_1 (M)\) if \(M = X/ \Lambda\) is a real analytic closed \(4\)-manifold with non-positive sectional curvature and there is no cycle in \(X\). Although the paper is mainly focusing on real analytic closed \(4\)-manifolds with non-positive sectional curvature, a section of it is devoted to \(3\)-manifolds. If \(M\) is a closed \(3\)-manifold with non-positive sectional curvature, the author shows that the Tits alternative holds for subgroups of \(\pi_1(M)\).