Compactification of strictly convex real projective structures (Q2572552)

A real projective structure on a differentiable manifold \(M\) is a maximal atlas \([U_i,\phi_i]\) into \(\mathbb{R}\mathbb{P}^n\) such that the transition functions \(\phi_j\circ\phi^{-1}_i\)are restrictions of projective automorphisms of \(\mathbb{R}\mathbb{P}^n\). A convex real projective manifold \(M\) is \(\Omega/\Gamma\), where \(\Omega\) is a convex domain in \(\mathbb{R}\mathbb{P}^n\) containing no projective line and \(\Gamma\) is a discrete group of \(Aut(\mathbb{R}\mathbb{P}^n)\). The aim of this article is to compactify the space of strictly convex real projective structures, and as the author writes, ``to capture the geometric properties as in the compactification of Teichmüller spaces due to Thurston''. The compactification given by the author is strongly based on [\textit{A. Parreau}, ``Dégénérescence de sous-groupes discrets des groupes de Lie semi-simples'' Thesis Université de Paris-sud (2000) and \textit{F. Paulin }, C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I 324, No. 11, 1217--1220 (1997; Zbl 0877.22005)]. A consequence of the compactification given by the author is that a boundary point is either reducible or acts on the asymptotic cone of an affine building. The author also proves that if \(M\) is an hyperbolic manifold, under some conditions the minimal affine building under the limit action of \(\pi_1(M)\) can be obtained by attaching an \(SO(n-2)\)-worth of \(\mathbb{R}^n\) along each geodesic of the minimal tree \(T\). As a corollary one obtains that if \(\rho_i:\pi_1(S)\rightarrow SO^0(2,1)\) is a sequence of hyperbolic structures which diverge to \(\lambda\in \mathcal{P}\mathcal{M}\mathcal{L}\) in Thurston compactification, then the minimal affine building of the limit action of \(\rho_i(\pi_1(S))\) is \(\mathbb{R}\times T_\lambda\).