No label defined (Q4239652)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a finitely generated group. The author makes the following definitions. A peripheral structure on \(\Gamma\) is a set \(\Pi\) and an action of \(\Gamma\) on \(\Pi\), together with a collection \((G_i)_{i\in\Pi}\) of subsets of \(\Gamma\) satisfying the following conditions: (1) If \(\gamma\in\Gamma\) and \(i\in\Pi\), then \(G_{\gamma i}=\gamma G_i\gamma^{-1}\), (2) \(\Pi/\Gamma\) is finite, (3) If \(i\not=j\) then \(G_i\cap G_j\) is finite, and (4) For each \(i\in\Pi\), \(G_i\) is an infinite finitely generated virtually abelian group. A representation \(\rho:\Gamma\to\text{Isom}(H^n)\) is type-preserving (relative to a given peripheral structure) if for each \(i\in\Pi\), \(\rho| G_i\) is discrete and parabolic. A peripheral element of \(\Gamma\) is an infinite order element of \(\bigcup_{i\in\Pi} G_i\). Finally, if \(\rho\) is type-preserving, then an accidental parabolic of \(\rho\) is a non-peripheral element whose image under \(\rho\) is parabolic. In this paper, the author studies the space \({\mathcal R}={\mathcal R}(\Gamma,n)\) of type-preserving representations of \(\Gamma\) in hyperbolic \(n\)-space \(H^n\), with respect to the algebraic topology, and especially its subspace \({\mathcal R}_F\subset{\mathcal R}\) consisting in geometrically finite representations without accidental parabolics. In particular, he considers the question of whether the subspace \({\mathcal R}_F\subset{\mathcal R}\) is open. He shows that this is not always the case by giving examples in dimension \(n=4\) of sequences of non-discrete (or discrete non-geometrically finite) representations which converge to a geometrically finite representation. He gives also general criteria under which \({\mathcal R}_F\) is open. This holds for example if every maximal parabolic subgroup has rank at least \(n-2\). In dimension \(n=3\), the author deduces Marden's theorem that geometrical finiteness is always an open property.