Volume of hyperbolic 3-manifolds with iterated pseudo-Anosov amalgamations (Q1597486)

Let \(M\) and \(M'\) be compact orientable hyperbolic 3-manifolds with totally geodesic boundaries each of which is homeomorphic to a closed connected orientable surface \(\Sigma\). For a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism \(\varphi:\Sigma \to\Sigma\), let \(N_n\) denote the closed 3-manifold obtained from \(M\) and \(M'\) by attaching \(\partial M\) to \(\partial M'\) by the \(n\)th iteration \(\varphi^n\), that is, \(N_n=M \cup_{\varphi^n}M'\). The Thurston uniformization theorem [\textit{W. P. Thurston}, Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 6, 357--379 (1982; Zbl 0496.57005)] implies that \(N_n\) is hyperbolic. The author studies an asymptotic behaviour of the volume of the hyperbolic 3-manifolds \(N_n\). Suppose that \(M\) and \(M'\) are irreducible with incompressible boundaries \(\partial M\) and \(\partial M'\), both of which are acylindrical and homeomorphic to a closed connected surface \(\Sigma\) of genus \(>1\). Using Gromov's simplicial volume \(\|N_n\|\) instead of hyperbolic volume, the author proves that \(\lim_n {\|N_n\|\over n}=\|\Sigma\times I_\varphi \|>0\), where \(\Sigma \times I_\varphi\) denotes the mapping torus of \(\varphi\). In particular, it follows that \(\lim_n\|N_n\|=\infty\). This gives an affirmative answer to a question in [\textit{T. Kuessner}, Efficient fundamental cycles of cusped hyperbolic manifolds, http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GT/0007003].