Seidel's conjectures in hyperbolic 3-space (Q2183723)

This paper answers several conjectures raised by \textit{J. J. Seidel} [Stud. Sci. Math. Hung. 21, 243--249 (1986; Zbl 0561.52010)] for hyperbolic \(3\)-space. Given a \(4\)-dimensional \({\mathbb R}\)-linear space \(V\) equipped with a bilinear symmetric form of signature \(---+\), the hyperbolic \(3\)-space is the open ball of positive points \({\mathbb H}^3 = \{\mathbf{p} \in {\mathbb P}V : \langle p, p\rangle > 0\}\), with \(p\in V\) denoting the representative of a point \(\mathbf{p}\in {\mathbb P}V\). If \(S := (\mathbf{v}_1, \mathbf{v}_2, \mathbf{v}_3, \mathbf{v}_4)\), with \(\mathbf{v}_i\in \partial {\mathbb H}^3\) is an ideal tetrahedron, choosing representatives \(v_i \in V\) we obtain a Gram matrix \(G\) of the vertices of \(S\), where \(G:= [\langle v_i, v_j\rangle\). Among all the Gram matrices of the vertices of \(S\), one, \(G_{ds}\), is doubly stochastic. Seidel's first conjecture states that the volume of \(S\) is determined by a preferably natural algebraic functions of the entries of \(G_{ds}\). The authors prove more than was expected, by obtaining, using Milnor's volume formula for an ideal tetrahedron, an explicit formula for the volume of an ideal tetrahedron as a function of the permanent and the determinant of \(G_{ds}\). While Seidel's fourth conjecture says that the volume is a decreasing function of the permanent, the authors show that this not the case, that the volume is in fact decreasing in the determinant and increasing in (the square root of) the permanent, whenever the determinant is non-zero. They also prove Seidel's third conjecture for hyperbolic \(3\)-space.