Effective drilling and filling of tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds (Q2165718)

The similarities, differences, and connections between hyperbolic 3-manifolds of finite volume and those of infinite volume are simultaneously compelling and, sometimes, inscrutable. In this paper, the authors provide researchers with a powerful set of effective tools for extrapolating finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds results to the infinite volume setting. Specifically, the authors tackle the question of an effective version of the celebrated Brock and Bromberg Drilling Theorem [\textit{J. F. Brock} and \textit{K. W. Bromberg}, Acta Math. 192, No. 1, 33--93 (2004; Zbl 1055.57020)], which states that for any geometrically finite hyperbolic 3-manifold \(M\) without rank-1 cusps and any \(J>1\) and sufficiently small \(\epsilon\), there is a bound \(\ell\) such that removing any closed geodesic link of total length less than \(\ell\) yields a new hyperbolic 3-manifold with the same end invariants of \(M\) (and moreover proves the existence of a \(J\)-bilipshitz diffeomorphism between the two manifolds in the complement of the \(\epsilon\)-tubes around the link). Reproduction of the relevant fomulas from the main result of the paper would likely not serve the reader of this review well, but the result is noteworthy for multiple reasons. To begin with, the effective drilling theorem of this paper applies to all tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds (which are those with finitely generated fundamental group, due to a theorem of \textit{I. Agol} [``Tameness of hyperbolic 3-manifolds'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:math/0405568}] and, independently, \textit{D. Calegari} and \textit{D. Gabai} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 19, No. 2, 385--446 (2006; Zbl 1090.57010)]), and not just to those manifolds which are geometrically finite and lacking in rank-1 cusps. Secondly, the result truly is effective: a playful researcher can and should employ this tool immediately to a host of examples, even in the absence of intricate knowledge of the full machinery of Kleinian group theory (such as the ending lamination theorem (of \textit{Y. Minsky} [Ann. Math. (2) 171, No. 1, 1--107 (2010; Zbl 1193.30063)] and Brock/Canary/Minsky [\textit{J. F. Brock} et al., ibid. (2) 176, No. 1, 1--149 (2012; Zbl 1253.57009)]), the tameness theorem (of Agol [loc. cit.] and Calegari/Gabai [loc. cit.]), and the density theorem (of \textit{K. Ohshika} [Geom. Topol. 15, No. 2, 827--890 (2011; Zbl 1241.30014)] and \textit{H. Namazi} and \textit{J. Souto} [Acta Math. 209, No. 2, 323--395 (2012; Zbl 1258.57010)])). On the other hand, the authors concede that the original Brock and Bromberg theorem maintains a degree of control over the entirety of the thin part of the complement of the drilled link, and to this effect they subsequently provide other tools in the paper for establishing some geometric control, in essence an effective version of a theorem of \textit{K. Bromberg} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 17, No. 4, 783--826 (2004; Zbl 1061.30037)], on the thin parts to which their main result does not apply. Among other notable results in this paper, the authors extend a previous result, similar to the drilling theorem but with hypotheses on the drilled manifold rather than the filled manifold, to tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds. This reviewer was both pleased and pleasantly surprised to see a version of the the 6-Theorem (due, independently, to \textit{I. Agol} [Geom. Topol. 6, 905--916 (2002; Zbl 1031.57014)] and \textit{M. Lackenby} [Invent. Math. 140, No. 2, 243--282 (2000; Zbl 0947.57016)]) proved in the broader category of tame hyperbolic 3-manifolds, despite the assertion of the authors that this result would surprise few experts.