An exhaustion of locally symmetric spaces by compact submanifolds with corners (Q1899740)

Locally symmetric spaces of noncompact type with finite volume are considered. The ends of these spaces are studied from a differential geometric point of view via constructing an exhaustion function. The main result of the paper is the following Theorem: Let \(X\) be a Riemannian symmetric space of noncompact type and with \(\mathbb{R}\)-rank \(\geq 2\) and let \(\Gamma\) be an irreducible, torsion-free, non-uniform lattice in the isometry group of \(X\). On the locally symmetric space \(V = \Gamma \setminus X\) there exists a continuous and piecewise real analytic exhaustion function \(h : V \to [0,\infty)\) such that, for any \(s \geq 0\), the sublevel set \(V(s) = \{h \leq s\}\) is a compact submanifold with corners of \(V\). Moreover the boundary of \(V(s)\), which is a level set of \(h\), consists of projections of subsets of horospheres in \(X\). The function \(h\) is constructed from Busemann functions on \(X\).