Arithmetic cusp shapes are dense (Q2467187)

By a flat \(n\)-manifold we mean a closed manifold \(M= \mathbb{R}^n/\Gamma\) where \(\Gamma\) is a discrete, torsion-free, cocompact subgroup of \(\text{Isom}(\mathbb{R}^n)\). In analogy with Teichmüller theory, there is a contractible space \({\mathcal F}(M)\) of flat metrics on \(M\) coming from the standard flat structure on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) and all the possible \(\text{Isom}(\mathbb{R}^n)\)-conjugacy classes for \(\Gamma\). We say that two flat metrics \(g_1\), \(g_2\) on \(M\) are similar if there exists an isometry between \((M,\alpha g_1)\) and \((M,g_2)\) for some \(\alpha\in\mathbb{R}^+\). We denote the equivalence class under similarity of a flat metric \(g\) by \([g]\) and the space of similarity classes of flat metrics on \(M\) by \({\mathcal S}(M)\). Furthermore it is well known that any finite volume, noncomapct hyperbolic \((n + 1)\)-orbifold \(W\) has a thick-thin decomposition comprising a compact manifold \(W_c\) with boundary components \(M_1,\dots, M_m\) where \(M_i\) are flat \(n\)-manifolds for \(i= 1, 2,\dots,m\). We also call these flat manifolds a cusp shape. The main result of the paper under review is following. For a flat \(n\)-manifold \(M\), the set of cusp shapes of \(M\) occuring in hyperbolic \((n+1)\)-orbifolds is dense in the space of flat similarity classes of \({\mathcal S}(M)\). This result verifies the conjecture \(2'\) from \textit{B. E. Nimershiem} [Topology Appl. 90, No. 1--3, 109--133 (1998; Zbl 0927.57010)].