Efficient fundamental cycles of cusped hyperbolic manifolds. (Q1880084)

The author considers the question to which extent a sequence of relative fundamental cycles of a hyperbolic \(n\)-manifold converges to the Gromov smearing cycle. The Gromov simplicial volume \(\| M,\partial M\| \) of a manifold \(M\) is the minimal number of simplices in the relative fundamental cycle of \(M\). The Gromov-Thurston theorem states that for finite-volume hyperbolic manifolds \(M\) the simplicial volume is equal to \({1\over V_n} Vol(M)\), where \(V_n\) is the volume of a regular ideal simplex in \(\mathbb H^n\). The author shows that for an \(n\)-manifold \(M\), \(n\geq3\), obtained by gluing two compact \(n\)-manifolds \(M_1,M_2\) along boundary components \({\partial _1}M_1, {\partial _1}M_2\) we have \(\| M,\partial M\| < \| M_1,\partial M_1\| + \| M_2,\partial M_2| \;\), provided that \((M_i - \partial M_i) \cup {\partial _1}M_i\) admit incomplete hyperbolic metrics of finite volume with totally geodesic boundaries \( {\partial _1}M_i\). For a lamination \(\mathcal F\) on \(M\) the foliated Gromov norm \(\| M,\partial M \| {_{\mathcal F}}\) is the minimal number of simplices transverse to \(\mathcal F\) in the relative fundamental cycle of \(M\). A \(3\)-manifold \(M\) is \textit{Gieseking-like} if \(M\) has a hyperbolic structure \(M=\Gamma{\setminus} {\mathbb H}^3\) of finite volume such that \(Q(\omega) \cup\infty \subset {\partial}_{\infty} {\mathbb H}^3\) are parabolic fixed points of \(\Gamma\), where \(\omega = {1\over 2}+{{\sqrt -3}\over 2}\). The author shows that if the interior of \(M\) is a hyperbolic \(n\)-manifold of finite volume which is not Gieseking-like, \(n\geq3\), and if \(\mathcal F\) is an asymptotically separated lamination, then \(\| M,\partial M \| < \| M,\partial M \| {_{\mathcal F}}\).