Geometric invariants of spaces with isolated flats. (Q1767618)

A flat in a CAT(0)-space \(X\) is an isometric embedding of Euclidean space \(E^k\) for some \(k\geq 2\) into \(X\). A CAT(0)-space \(X\) has isolated flats if it contains an \(\text{Isom}(X)\)-invariant family \(\mathcal F\) of flats with the following properties: (1) There is a constant \(B\) such that every flat \(F\) in \(X\) is contained in a \(B\)-neighborhood of some flat \(F'\in\mathcal F\). (2) There is a function \(\psi\colon\mathbb{R}_+\to\mathbb{R}_+\) such that for every pair of flats \(F_1,F_2\in\mathcal F\) and for every \(k\geq 0\) the intersection \({\mathcal N}_k(F_1)\cap{\mathcal N}_k(F_2)\) of \(k\)-neighborhoods of \(F_1\) and \(F_2\) has diameter at most \(\psi(k)\). A space \(X\) satisfies the `Relative Fellow Traveller Property' if for each constants \(\lambda\) and \(\varepsilon\) there is a constant \(L=L(\lambda,\varepsilon,X)\) such that for any two \((\lambda,\varepsilon)\)-quasigeodesics \(\alpha\colon[0,a]\to X\) and \(\alpha'\colon[0,a']\to X\) with common endpoints there are a sequence of flats \((F_1,\dots,F_n)\) and partitions \[ 0=t_0\leq s_0\leq t_1\leq s_1\leq\cdots\leq t_n\leq s_n=a\text{ and }0=t'_0\leq s'_0\leq t'_1\leq s'_1\leq\cdots\leq t'_n\leq s'_n=a' \] so that for \(0\leq i\leq n\) the Hausdorff distance between the sets \(\alpha([t_i,s_i])\) and \(\alpha'([t'_i,s'_i])\) is at most \(L\), while for \(1\leq i\leq n\) the sets \(\alpha([s_{i-1},t_i])\) and \(\alpha'([s'_{i-1},t'_i])\) lie in an \(L\)-neighborhood of the flat \(F_i\). The author studies groups with geometric action \(\rho\) on CAT(0)-spaces with isolated flats and relative fellow traveller property. For such a group \(G\) the intrinsic notion of quasiconvex subgroups is introduced. It is shown that any finitely generated subgroup \(H\) is quasiconvex with respect to \(\rho\) if and only if the inclusion \(H\hookrightarrow G\) is a quasi-isometric embedding. Also it is proven that the visual boundary of the CAT(0)-space \(X\) with isolated flats and relative fellow traveller property is an invariant of the group \(G\). Another result: If \(G\) acts geometrically on two CAT(0)-spaces \(X\) and \(Y\) and \(X\) has isolated flats and relative fellow traveller property, then any \(G\)-equivariant quasi-isometry \(X\to T\) maps geodesics in \(X\) uniformly close to geodesics in \(Y\); the truncated convex hull of the limit set associated to a geometrically finite subgroup \(\Gamma\leq\text{Isom}(\mathbb{H}^n)\) has isolated flats and relative fellow traveller property.