Rigidity for convex-cocompact actions on rank-one symmetric spaces (Q1637309)

Let \(X\) be a noncompact rank-one symmetric space, \(\Gamma\) be a nonelementary Gromov hyperbolic group. Suppose \(\Gamma\curvearrowright X\) is a convex-cocompact action of the discrete group \(\Gamma\) on \(X\). Then, there is a natural lower bound for the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set \(\Lambda(\Gamma)\subset \partial X\), given by the Ahlfors regular conformal dimension on \(\partial \Gamma\). The authors show that equality is achieved precisely when \(\Gamma\) stabilizes an isometric copy of some noncompact rank-one symmetric space in \(X\) on which it acts with compact quotient. This generalizes a theorem of Bonk and Kleiner, who proved it in the case when \(X\) is real hyperbolic. To prove the main theorem, the authors study tangents of Lipschitz differentiability spaces that are embedded in a Carnot group \(\mathbb G\). They show that almost all tangents are isometric to a Carnot subgroup of \(\mathbb G\), at least when they are rectifiably connected. This extends a theorem of Cheeger, who proved it for PI spaces that are embedded in Euclidean space.