Moduli spaces of hyperbolic 3-manifolds and dynamics on character varieties (Q1939569)

Let \(M\) be a compact orientable hyperbolizable 3-manifold with boundary. The space \(AH(M)\) of marked hyperbolic 3-manifolds homotopy equivalent to \(M\) is a subset of the \(\text{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) character variety \(X(M)\) of \(\pi_1(M)\). In the paper under review, the authors study the dynamics of the outer automorphism group \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) on \(AH(M)\) and on \(X(M)\). The theme of this study is the extent to which the nature of this dynamics reflects the topology of \(M\). The quotient \(AI(M)= AH(M)/\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) is the space of unmarked hyperbolic 3-manifolds homotopy equivalent to \(M\). The authors also study the topologies of the various spaces involved and in particular the extent to which the topology of the space \(AI(M)\) reflects the dynamics of the action of \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) on \(AH(M)\). The main results are the following: Theorem 1.--- If \(M\) has non-abelian fundamental group then \(AI(M)\) is \(T_1\) if and only if \(M\) is not an untwisted interval bundle. Theorem 2.--- If \(M\) has non-abelian fundamental group and if \(M\) contains a primitive essential annulus then \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) does not act properly discontinuously on \(AH(M)\). Moreover, if \(M\) contains a primitive essential annulus, then \(AI(M)\) is not Hausdorff. Theorem 3.--- If \(M\) has no primitive essential annuli and its boundary has no toroidal boundary components, then there exists an open \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\)-invariant neighborhood \(W(M)\) of \(AH(M)\) in \(X(M)\) such that \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) acts properly discontinuously on \(W(M)\). In particular, \(AI(M)\) is Hausdorff. Corollary 4.--- If \(M\) has no toroidal boundary components and non-abelian fundamental group then \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) acts properly discontinuously on \(AH(M)\) if and only if \(M\) contains no primitive essential annuli. Moreover, \(AI(M)\) is Hausdorff if and only if \(M\) contains no primitive essential annuli. Theorem 5.--- Assume that \(M\) has nonempty incompressible boundary and no toroidal boundary components, and is not an interval bundle. Then there exists an open \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\)-invariant subset \(W(M)\) of \(X(M)\) such that \(\text{Out}(\pi_1(M))\) acts properly discontinuously on \(W(M)\) and \(\text{int}(AH(M))\) is a proper subset of \(W(M)\).