Horocycles in hyperbolic 3-manifolds (Q311153)

The authors describe the behaviour of horocycles in \textsl{rigid acylindrical manifolds}. These manifolds are quotients of the hyperbolic \(3\)-space by infinite-covolume, convex-cocompact and torsion-free Kleinian groups; their convex cores have totally geodesic boundaries. The authors prove that only three situation can arise: (1) the horocycle is a properly immersed \(1\)-manifold (as in the finite volume case); (2) its closure is a properly immersed \(2\)-submanifold parallel to a totally geodesic surface; (3) the closure is the whole manifold. The authors remark that this rigidity result cannot hold for more general, infinite volume, hyperbolic \(3\)-manifolds. The proof follows from a reformulation of the main result via the frame bundle on the manifold: it turns out that if a horocycle limits on a properly embedded, totally geodesic surface, its behaviour reflects that of the horocycle flow on the surface.