A geometrically bounding hyperbolic link complement (Q2346736)

If \(X\) is a complete, finite volume hyperbolic 4-manifold with a single, totally geodesic boundary component \(M\), then it is said that \(M\) geometrically bounds \(X\). Note that \(X\) and \(M\) need not be compact. It is known from work of \textit{D. D. Long} and \textit{A. W. Reid} [Geom. Topol. 4, 171--178 (2000; Zbl 0961.57011)] that not every hyperbolic 3-manifold geometrically bounds, and therefore it is possible to ask which 3-manifolds geometrically bound. This question has been studied recently, for example by \textit{A. Kolpakov} et al. [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 143, No. 9, 4103--4111 (2015; Zbl 1319.57015); erratum ibid. 144, No. 8, 3647--3648 (2016)], who explicitly construct infinitely many examples of compact hyperbolic 3-manifolds which geometrically bound. Examples of non-compact \(X\) and \(M\) are given by \textit{J. G. Ratcliffe} and \textit{S. T. Tschantz} [Classical Quantum Gravity 15, No. 9, 2613--2627 (1998; Zbl 0939.53037)]; in these examples, the manifolds \(X\) have the least possible volume, as they are constructed by pairing the 3-dimensional facets of a 4-dimensional polytope of minimal volume. The paper under review provides a further non-compact example, which is of larger volume than those known previously, as it is constructed from two copies of this polytope. The paper also studies in detail the geometrically bounding 3-manifold \(M\). The example 4-manifold \(X\) is produced by taking two copies of a regular ideal hyperbolic 4-dimensional polytope, with opposite orientations. The boundary 3-dimensional facets are colored in three colors, and some of these facets are identified in pairs. It is shown that the identifications cause the remaining facets to form a connected 3-manifold \(M\) with eight cusps, and then the theory of framed links is used to determine \(M\) as a link in the 3-sphere.