A sharper Tits alternative for 3-manifold groups (Q1802720)

Let \(M\) be a closed, orientable, irreducible 3-manifold. It has been shown [\textit{P. B. Shalen} and \textit{P. Wagreich}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 331, 895-917 (1992; Zbl 0768.57001)] that if \(\text{rk}H_ 1(M,\mathbb{Z}_ p)\geq 4\) for some prime \(p\) then \(\pi_ 1(M)\) contains a free subgroup of rank 2. In the paper under review the author shows that if \(\text{rk}H_ 1(M,\mathbb{Z}_ p)\geq 3\) for some prime \(p\), then either \(\pi_ 1(M)\) is solvable-by-finite or it contains a free subgroup of rank 2. The proof makes use of the theory of \(p\)-adic analytic groups. A corollary of the author's result is that if \(\text{rk}H_ 1(M,\mathbb{Z}_ p)\geq 3\) for some prime \(p\), then either \(\pi_ 1(M)\) is nilpotent-by- finite or it has exponential growth. This strengthens a result of Shalen and Wagreich, and also of \textit{V. G. Turaev} in ``Topology, general and algebraic topology, and applications'', Proc. int. Conf., Leningrad 1982, Lect. Notes in Mathematics 1060, 355-366 (1984; Zbl 0564.57008). The author remarks that his theorem has also been obtained independently by \textit{G. Mess} [Finite covers of 3-manifolds, and a theorem of Lubotzky, preprint].