Farey polytopes and continued fractions associated with discrete hyperbolic groups (Q4243603)

The diophantine approximation of reals by rationals, traditionally given in terms of continued fraction convergents, has the geometric interpretation of approximating elements of the boundary of the hyperbolic plane by the orbit of infinity under the modular group. The author generalizes this quite successfully to geometrically finite groups acting on higher-dimensional hyperbolic spaces. The notion of Farey tessellations in this setting, based upon ideas going back at least to \textit{A. L. Schmidt} [see, e.g., Math. Scand. 21, 241-295 (1969; Zbl 0172.06601)] and of \textit{R. Moeckel} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 2, 69-83 (1982; Zbl 0497.10007)], are developed. Briefly, for each group \(G\) of the type being studied, one finds a \(G\)-invariant tessellation of the appropriate hyperbolic space by certain polytopes. The construction here is related to the theory of Voronoi and Delaunay cells. A theory of continued fractions and spectra of approximation is developed by way of cutting sequences of geodesics. Basic results are found in full generality and explicit results are given for, in particular, certain Bianchi groups. For example, the Hurwitz approximation constant is found for the imaginary quadratic field of discriminant \(-15\).