A geometric criterion to be pseudo-Anosov (Q2512533)

If \(M\) is a manifold, \(l:M\rightarrow\mathbb R\) is a function, and \(X\) is a subset of \(M\), the width of \(X\) with respect to \(l\) is defined to be the \(\operatorname{diam}(l(X))\). If \(X\) is a subset of any covering space \(\Pi:M_1\rightarrow M\), the width of \(X\) is defined as the \(\operatorname{diam}(l(\Pi (X)))\). Let \(S\) be a closed hyperbolic surface and let \(M=S\times\mathbb R\) be equipped with a hyperbolic structure. This hyperbolic structure is said \(\varepsilon\)-thick if the injectivity radius at every point is bounded below by \(\varepsilon\). A closed curve in \(S\times\mathbb R\) is filling if its projection to \(S\) is filling. If \(Y\) is an incompressible subsurface of \(S\) and if \(\Gamma_Y\) is the Kleinian group corresponding to \(\pi_1(Y)\subset\pi_1(M)\) then we set \(\Pi:M_Y=\mathbb H^3/\Gamma_Y\rightarrow M\) the corresponding cover. Let \(N\) be a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold that fibers over the circle with fiber a surface \(S\) and let \(N_{\mathbb Z}\) be the corresponding infinite cyclic covering of \(N\). The surface obtained from \(S\) by removing a point is denoted by \(\overset{\circ}{S}\). A topological criterion invented by Agol affirms that a subgroup \(H\) of \(\pi_1(N)\) is a purely pseudo-Anosov subgroup of \(\mathrm{Mod}(\overset{\circ}{S})\) if and only if every nontrivial element of \(H\cap \pi _{1}(S)\) fills \(S.\) However it is very difficult to check this criterion. For this reason the main theorem of the paper gives a geometric criterion for an element of \(\pi _{1}(N_{\mathbb{Z}})\) to be filling. More precisely, the main result of the paper states the following. Let \(S\) be a closed oriented surface of Euler characteristic \(\chi =\chi (S)<0,\) and let \(\varepsilon \) and \(K\) be positive numbers. There is a \(W=W(\chi ,\varepsilon ,K)>0\) such that the following holds. Equip \( M=S\times \mathbb{R}\) with any \(\varepsilon \)-thick hyperbolic structure, and let \(l:M\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) be a \(K\)-Lipschitz submersion. If \(Y\) is a proper incompressible subsurface of \(S\) and \(\mathcal{C}_{Y}\) is the convex core of the corresponding cover of \(M,\) then the width diam\((l( \mathcal{C}_{Y}))\) of \(\mathcal{C}_{Y}\) is at most \(W.\) In particular, if \( \gamma \) is a geodesic loop in \(M\) such that diam\((l(\mathcal{C}_{Y}))>W,\) then \(\gamma \) fills \(S.\) As a corollary of this theorem, Agol's criterion takes the following form: a subgroup \(H\) of \(\pi _{1}(N)\) is a purely pseudo-Anosov subgroup of Mod\((\overset{\circ }{S})\) if every nontrivial element \(\gamma \) of \(H\cap \pi _{1}(S)\) is wide, i.e. it satisfies diam\((l(\gamma))>W.\)