Bounded geometry in relatively hyperbolic groups. (Q2581069)

The class of relatively hyperbolic groups includes many important examples such as hyperbolic groups and groups acting on CAT(0) spaces with isolated flats among others. One way of defining relative hyperbolicity is the following: A group \(G\) is hyperbolic relative to a collection \(\mathcal G\) of subgroups if it admits a properly discontinuous, isometric action on a proper hyperbolic path-metric space \(X\) such that every point in the boundary of \(X\) is either a conical limit point or a bounded parabolic point, the elements of \(\mathcal G\) are precisely the maximal parabolic subgroups of \(G\) and every element of \(\mathcal G\) is finitely generated. The authors' main result is the following equivalence for a finitely generated group \(\Gamma\) relatively hyperbolic with respect to a family \(\mathcal G\) of finitely generated subgroups: Every element of \(\mathcal G\) is virtually nilpotent if and only if there is a space \(X\) associated to \(\Gamma\) that has bounded geometry. By combining this result with a theorem of \textit{M. Bonk} and \textit{O. Schramm} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 10, No. 2, 266-306 (2000; Zbl 0972.53021)], the authors conclude that a finitely generated group \(\Gamma\) that is relatively hyperbolic with respect to a family of virtually nilpotent groups has finite asymptotic dimension. In particular, by a theorem of \textit{G. Yu} [Ann. Math. (2) 147, No. 2, 325-355 (1998; Zbl 0911.19001)], these groups satisfy the Novikov higher signature conjecture.