Convergence of freely decomposable Kleinian groups (Q284623)

Let \(G\) be a geometrically finite Kleinian group. The basic question addressed in the present paper is the following: Given a divergent sequence in the quasiconformal deformation space of \(G\), under what conditions does there exist a convergent subsequence in the full deformation space of \(G\)? For freely indecomposable Kleinian groups, various strong convergence results are known (the basic case here is that of a quasi-Fuchsian surface group), and in the present paper the more complicated case of freely decomposable Kleinian groups is considered (the basic cases are free Schottky groups and function groups). By classical Ahlfors-Bers theory, the quasiconformal deformation space of a geometrically finite Kleinian group \(G\) is parametrized by the Teichmüller space of the conformal boundary \(\partial M\) of the associated hyperbolic 3-manifold \(M = \mathbb H^3/G\). It is shown in the present paper that, for the case of a freely decomposable Kleinian group \(G\) or a 3-manifold \(M\) with compressible boundary, convergent subsequences exist for sequences in the Teichmüller space of \(\partial M\) which converge to a projective measured lamination in the boundary of the Thurston compactification of Teichmüller space which is ``doubly incompressible'' (e.g., if it is contained in the ``Masur domain'' of \(\partial M\)). In more detail, let \(M\) be a a compact orientable irreducible atoroidal 3-manifold \(M\) with nonempty boundary; by Thurston's uniformization theorem for atoroidal Haken 3-manifolds, \(M\) is hyperbolic and can be uniformized by a Kleinian group \(G\) which is the image of a representation \(\rho_0: \pi_1(M) \to\mathrm{Isom}(\mathbb H^3)\) (i.e., the interior of \(M\) is homeomorpic to the hyperbolic 3-manifold \(\mathbb H^3/G\)). For a geometrically finite Kleinian group \(G\), or a convex-cocompact representation \(\rho_0\), by Ahlfors-Bers theory there is a ramified covering map (``Ahlfors-Bers map'') from the Teichmüller space of the conformal boundary at infinity \(\partial M\) of \(M\) to the quasi-conformal deformation space of \(\rho_0\) (the covering group is the group of isotopy classes of diffeomorphisms of \(M\) which are homotopic to the identity). The quasi-conformal deformation space of \(\rho_0\) is a subspace of the full deformation space of \(M\), i.e., the space of all discrete faithful representations of \(\pi_1(M)\) in the isometry group \(\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb C)\) of \(\mathbb H^3\), up to conjugation, with the compact-open or algebraic topology. As the authors note, in general it is difficult to understand how coordinates on Teichmüller space relate to the full deformation space. In Thurston's proof of the uniformization theorem for Haken 3-manifolds, a key result is the double limit theorem for quasi-Fuchsian groups and the compactness of the deformation spaces for acylindrical manifolds; these results have been generalized by \textit{K. Ohshika} to a convergence theorem for general freely indecomposable Kleinian groups [Math. Z. 201, No. 2, 167--176 (1989; Zbl 0681.30025); Invent. Math. 99, No. 1, 185--203 (1990; Zbl 0691.30038)]. Thurston asked how one might generalize the double limit theorem to the setting of Schottky groups uniformizing handlebodies (and then also to the case of function groups). The main result of the present paper is a generalization of Thurston's double limit theorem and answers his question for the case of function groups and freely decomposable groups (suitably reformulated using the notion of Masur domains), and is as follows. Let \(M\) be a hyperbolic 3-manifold as above and \(\rho_0: \pi_1(M) \to \mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb C)\) a convex cocompact representation that uniformizes \(M\). Consider a sequence in the Teichmüller space of \(\partial M\) that converges in its Thurston compactification to a projective measured lamination which is doubly incompressible, generalizing Thurston's notion of a doubly incompressible curve (or lies in the smaller Masur domain as introduced by \textit{H. Masur} for the case of handlebodies and Schottky groups [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 6, 99--116 (1986; Zbl 0628.57010)], and generalized by Otal to the exterior boundary of a compression body; see also a paper by \textit{C. Lecuire} [Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 329, 49--73 (2006; Zbl 1102.30043)]). Then, after applying the Ahlfors-Bers map, the sequence has a convergent subsequence in the full deformation space. Various special cases have been known before. The proof of the main theorem is quite involved and uses the full spectrum of techniques in the recent (post-Ahlfors-Bers) theory of Kleinian groups (which culminated in proofs of the density, tameness and ending lamination conjectures).