Convex plumbings in closed hyperbolic 4-manifolds (Q2025657)

The general question considered in the paper is the following: Given a compact smooth \(n\)-manifold \(M\) with non-empty boundary, when does there exist a closed hyperbolic \(n\)-manifold \(W\) containing \(M\) as a convex submanifold (i.e., every arc in \(M\) is homotopic in \(M\) relative endpoints to a geodesic). This is true for \(2\)-manifolds, and for \(3\)-manifolds via geometrization precisely when \(M\) is irreducible and algebraically atoroidal. ``The main contribution of this paper is to furnish a family of examples in dimension 4. We show that every plumbing of disc bundles over surfaces whose genera satisfy a simple inequality may be embedded as a convex submanifold in some closed hyperbolic 4-manifold. In particular, its interior has a geometrically finite hyperbolic structure that covers a closed hyperbolic 4-manifold.'' The manifolds \(M\) and \(W\) in the paper are constructed by assembling right-angled 120-cells; in particular, all the manifolds \(W\) cover the same Coxeter simplex orbifold of type \([5,3,3,4]\).