On the displacement of generators of free Fuchsian groups (Q2417662)

The paper under review deals with free Fuchsian groups. Its aim is to get a version for these groups of a result on Kleinian groups obtained by \textit{J. W. Anderson} et al. in [J. Differential Geom. 43, 738--782 (1996; Zbl 0860.57011)]. This so-called \(\log(2k-1)\) theorem considered a Kleinian group freely generated by elements \(g_1, \dots, g_k\) with \(k \geq 2\). Then, if \(z\) is a point in \(\mathbb{H}^3\) and \(d_i\) is the hyperelliptic distance \(d(z, g_iz)\), there exists \(i\) such that \(d_i \geq \log(2k-1)\). The author obtains the 2-dimensional analog of the \(\log(2k-1)\) theorem. Her main theorem (Theorem 4.1) states that given a Fuchsian group freely generated by \(g_1, \dots, g_k\) with \(k \geq 2\), and \(z \in \mathbb{H}^2\), there exists \(i\) such that \[d_i = d(z, g_iz) \geq \log\left(\frac {1 + \cos {\frac{\pi}{2k}}} {1 - \cos {\frac{\pi}{2k}}}\right),\] and the bound is realized for \(k=2\) when \(g_1 = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 2\\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}\), \(g_2 = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0\\ 2 & 1 \end{pmatrix}\), \(z = \sqrt{-1}\). This result has applications in terms of quantitative geometry of hyperbolic surfaces. Two of them are noted in the final Section 5 of the paper, namely a result on the Margulis constant already obtained by \textit{A. Yamada} in [Kodai Math. J. 4, 266--277 (1981; Zbl 0469.30038)], and a bound on lengths of a pair of based loops with more relaxed conditions than those needed in the earlier result by \textit{P. Buser} in [Manuscr. Math. 25, 349--357 (1978; Zbl 0402.53028)].