Minimal entropy for uniform lattices in product of hyperbolic planes (Q268283)

Let \((M,g)\) be a compact Riemannian manifold, and \(\widetilde{M}\) be its universal cover. The volume entropy of the metric \(g\) is defined as \(h(g)=\lim\limits_{R\to\infty}\frac{1}{R}\log \text{vol}\big(B(x,R)\big)\), where \(B(x,R)\subset \widetilde{M}\) is the ball of radius \(R\) centered at \(x\). This defines a functional \(h(\cdot)\) on the space of Riemannian metrics on \(M\) with the same volume. An important question is to characterize the \(h\)-minimizing metrics. This question was first posed by \textit{A. Katok} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 2, 339--365 (1982; Zbl 0525.58027)] in a more dynamical system context (topological and metric entropy for geodesic flows) and then by Gromov in a more geometric context. There is a general conjecture which states that the minimizing metrics are locally symmetric. A major result in this direction is [\textit{G. Besson} et al., Geom. Funct. Anal. 5, No. 5, 731--799 (1995; Zbl 0851.53032)], in which the authors proved the conjecture when \(M\) is a locally symmetric space of rank one. Their result was extended in [\textit{C. Connell} and \textit{B. Farb}, Commun. Anal. Geom. 11, No. 5, 1001--1026 (2003; Zbl 1088.58006)] to the case where \(M\) is locally a product of rank one symmetric spaces with no factor \(\mathbb{H}^2\). In this paper, the author proves the conjecture for \(M=\Gamma\backslash (\mathbb{H}^2)^n\), where \(\Gamma\) is a uniform lattice in \(\big(\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R})\big)^n\). That is, among those metrics on \(M\) with the same volume, the metrics induced by the sum of hyperbolic metrics on \(\mathbb{H}^2\) minimizes the volume entropy on \(M\).