The action of non-super-rigid lattices in symmetric spaces of rank 1. (Q1432384)

Let \(H^{n}_{\mathbf F}\) be a noncompact symmetric space of rank 1, i.e. a hyperbolic space over the real numbers (\(\mathbf F = \mathbb R\)), the complex numbers (\(\mathbf F = \mathbb C\)), the quaternions (\(\mathbf F = \mathbb H\)), or the Cayley numbers (\(\mathbf F = \mathbb O\); in this case \(n=2\)). Its automorphism group \(\Aut H^{n}_{\mathbf F}\) is then PO\((n,1)\), PU\((n,1)\), PSp\((n,1)\), or \(F^{-20}_{4}\), respectively. The fundamental groups of locally symmetric spaces \(M\) are embedded in this automorphism group as discrete subgroups: \(\pi ^{\text{orb}}_{1} (M) = \Gamma \subset \Aut H^{n}_{\mathbb H}\), and \(M = H^{n}_{\mathbf F} / \Gamma \) is homotopically equivalent to an analytical subspace \(N\) if and only if \(\Gamma \) leaves invariant a totally geodesic analytic subspace \(X \subset H^{n}_{\mathbf F}\), such that \(X \cong H^{k}_{\mathbf F}\), where \(k < n\) and \(N = X / \Gamma\) [see \textit{G. D. Mostow}, Strong rigidity of locally symmetric spaces, Ann. Math. Stud. 78 (1973; Zbl 0265.53039)]. The purpose of this paper is to study continuous deformations and rigidity of locally symmetric spaces of rank 1 homotopically equivalent to analytic subspaces of finite volume. It is proved: Theorem A. For any lattice \(\Gamma \subset \text{PSp}(m,1)\), where \(m \geq 1\), its natural inclusion \(\Gamma \rightarrow \text{PSp}(n,1)\), where \(m \leq n\), is rigid, i.e. it has no continuous deformations in \(\text{PSp}(n,1)\). Theorem B. Let \(\Gamma \subset \Aut H^{1}_{\mathbb O} = \text{Isom} _{+} H^{8}_{\mathbb R} \subset F^{-20}_{4}\) be a lattice acting on the Cayley geodesic \(L = H^{1}_{\mathbb O} \subset H^{2}_{\mathbb O}\). Then its natural inclusion \(\rho _{0}\: \Gamma \subset F^{-20}_{4}\) is rigid; i.e. it has no nontrivial continuous deformations \(\{ \rho _{t}\: \Gamma \rightarrow F^{-20}_{4} \}\) (each representation \(\rho _{t}\) is conjugate to the natural inclusion \(\rho _{0}: \Gamma \subset F^{-20}_{4}\)). Theorem C. Let \(\Gamma \subset \text{PU}(1,1) \subset \text{PU}(2,1)\) be a lattice generated by reflections and having \(k\) conjugate classes of parabolic subgroups, where \(k \geq 4\). Then (in addition to the deformations of the group \(\Gamma\) in \(\text{PU}(1,1)\)) there exists a smooth embedding \(\alpha\: B^{m} \hookrightarrow {\mathcal T}_{\text{PU}(2,1)}(\Gamma)\) of the \(m\)-dimensional real ball \(B^{m}\) into the space \( {\mathcal T}_{\text{PU}(2,1)}(\Gamma)\) of conjugate classes of faithful discrete representations \(\rho : \Gamma \rightarrow \text{PU}(2,1)\), where \(m = [(k-1)/3]\) is the integer part of the number \((k-1)/3\), and the points of the \(m\)-dimensional curve \(\{ \alpha (t) : t \in B^{m}\), \(t \neq 0 \}\) correspond to nontrivial quasi-Fuchsian representations of the groups \(\Gamma\), \(\alpha (0) \Gamma = \Gamma\).