Asymptotic geometry of arithmetic quotients of symmetric spaces (Q2365054)

Let \(G\subseteq GL(n,\mathbb{C})\) denote a semisimple algebraic group over \(\mathbb{Q}\) with \(\mathbb{R}\text{-rank}\geq 2\) and \(\mathbb{Q}\text{-rank}\geq 1\). Assume that \(G^0_\mathbb{R}\) has no compact factors and let \(\Gamma\) denote an irreducible lattice in \(G^0_\mathbb{R}\cap G_\mathbb{Q}\) commensurable with \(G_\mathbb{Z}=G\cap GL(n,\mathbb{C})\). If \(K\) is a maximal compact subgroup of \(G_\mathbb{R}\), then \(V=K^0/G^0_\mathbb{R}\setminus\Gamma\) is a noncompact, locally symmetric space with finite volume and curvature \(K\leq 0\). Let the distance function on \(V\) obtained from the Riemannian distance function on \(K^0/G^0_\mathbb{R}\) be denoted by \(d_V\). In this paper the author uses the Gromov approach to metric space geometry to describe the geometry at infinity of \(V\), generalizing the author's earlier work on the specific examples \(V=SO(n,\mathbb{R})\setminus SL(n,\mathbb{R})/\Gamma\), where \(n\geq 3\) and \(\Gamma\) is a principal congruence subgroup of \(SL(n,\mathbb{Z})\) of level \(m\) [\textit{T. Hattori}, J. Math. Soc. Japan 47, 193-225 (1995; Zbl 0844.53041)]. The main result of this paper generalizes the main result of the earlier paper on the example above. To describe the objects appearing in the statement of the theorem consider first the Tits building of \(G\), which is a simplicial complex \(|T|\) whose vertices \({\mathcal V}\) consist of the maximal parabolic \(\mathbb{Q}\)-subgroups of \(G\). A subset \({\mathcal S}\) of \({\mathcal V}\) is admissible if the intersection of all maximal parabolic \(\mathbb{Q}\)-subgroups in \({\mathcal S}\) is also a parabolic \(\mathbb{Q}\)-subgroup of \(G\). Each admissible subset \(\mathcal S\) of \(\mathcal V\) determines a simplex in \(|T|\) whose vertices are the elements of \(\mathcal S\). The lattice \(\Gamma\) acts on \(\mathcal V\) by conjugation, and this action extends naturally to an action of \(\Gamma\) on \(|T|\), whose quotient space is denoted by \(|T_\Gamma|\). Let \(T\) be a maximal \(\mathbb{Q}\)-split torus of \(G\), and let \({\mathfrak A}\) denote the Lie algebra of \(A\), the identity component of the group of real points of \(T\). From the space \(|T_\Gamma|\) one constructs a polyhedron \(C|T_\Gamma|\) with a distinguished vertex \(O\) whose maximal faces may each be identified isometrically with a closed Weyl chamber in \({\mathfrak A}\). The polyhedron \(C|T_\Gamma|\) admits a natural metric \(d\) that is Euclidean on the maximal faces of \(C|T_\Gamma|\). Theorem. Let \(x_0\) denote the projection into \(V\) of the identity coset in \(K^0/G^0_\mathbb{R}\) and let \(O\) denote the distinguished vertex of \(C|T_\Gamma|\). Then in the category of pointed metric spaces with the Gromov-Hausdorff topology, the spaces \((V,(1/t)d_V,x_0)\) converge to \((C|T_\Gamma|,d,0)\) as \(t\to\infty\).