CAT(0) and CAT(-1) fillings of hyperbolic manifolds (Q616680)

In this work new examples of hyperbolic and relatively hyperbolic groups of cohomological dimension \(d\) for all \(d\geq4,\) are given. The examples result from applying \(\text{CAT}(0)/\text{CAT}(-1)\) filling constructions to finite volume hyperbolic manifolds with toral cusps. The groups obtained have a number of interesting properties, which are established by analyzing their boundaries at infinity by a kind of Morse-theoretic technique. Let \(N\) be a flat torus of dimension \(n,\) and let \(T\) be a totally geodesic \(k\)-dimensional submanifold in \(N,\) \(1\leq k\leq n.\) \(N\) has Euclidean universal cover \(\mathbb{E}^{n}\rightarrow N\) and let \(\widetilde{T} \cong\mathbb{E}^{k}\) be a component of the preimage of \(T\) in \(\mathbb{E} ^{n}.\) Then, a fibration \(\widetilde{\pi}:\mathbb{E}^{n}\rightarrow \mathbb{E}^{n-k}\) is defined, where the fibers are parallel copies of \(\widetilde{T}.\) This fibration covers a fibration \(\pi:N\rightarrow B\) over some \((n-k)\)-torus \(B\). The \textit{partial cone} \(C(N,T)\) is defined as \(C(N,T)=N\times[0,1]/\sim,\) where \((t_{1},0)\sim(t_{2},1)\) if \(\pi (t_{1})=\pi(t_{2}).\) \(N\times0\) is referred to as the boundary of \(C(N,T)\) and \(V(N,T)=N\times1/\sim\) as the core of \(C(N,T).\) Now, let \(M\) be a hyperbolic \((n+1)\)-manifold of finite volume containing disjoint toral cusps \(E_{1},\dots,E_{m}\) and no other ends. Let \(\overline{M}\subset M\) be the manifold with boundary obtained by removing the interiors of the cusps. Let \(N_{1},\dots,N_{m}\) be the components of \(\partial\overline{M}\). For each such component \(N_{i}\) choose an embedded totally geodesic torus \(T_{i}\) of dimension \(k_{i}\) and form the partial cone \(C(N_{i},T_{i})\). Using the canonical identification \(\phi_{i}\) of \(\partial C(N_{i},T_{i})\) with \(N_{i}\) the space \(M(T_{1},\dots,T_{m})\) is defined as \(\overline{M}\cup_{\phi_{1} \sqcup\cdots\sqcup\phi_{m}}(C(N_{1},T_{1})\sqcup\cdots\sqcup C(N_{m},T_{m}))\) and it is referred to as the space obtained from \(M\) by filling along \(\{T_{1} ,\dots,T_{m}\}.\) The cores of \(C(N_{i},T_{i})\) are referred to as filling cores. If no \(T_{i}\) contains a geodesic of length \(2\pi\) or less, \(M(T_{1},\cdots,T_{m})\) is called a \(2\pi\)-filling of \(M.\) The first main result of the paper states that, under hypotheses exactly analogous to those used in the Gromov-Thurston \(2\pi\) theorem, a \(2\pi \)-filling \(M(T_{1},\dots,T_{m})\) of \(M\) can be equipped with a nice locally \(\text{CAT}(0)\) metric; moreover, if all the filling cores are zero or one dimensional, the metric can be chosen to be locally \(\text{CAT}(-1).\) Remark also that the constructed metric is identical to the original hyperbolic metric, away from a neighborhood of the filling cores. The second main result states that, if \(n\geq3\) then there are infinitely many \(2\pi\)-fillings of \(M\) whose fundamental groups are non-pairwise-isomorphic, torsion free, \((n+1)\)-dimensional hyperbolic groups, each of which acts geometrically on some \((n+1)\)-dimensional \(\text{CAT}(-1)\) space, and none of which is a closed aspherical manifold group. If \(n\geq4,\) then there are infinitely many \(2\pi\)-fillings of \(M\) whose fundamental groups are non-pairwise-isomorphic, torsion free, \((n+1)\)-dimensional relatively hyperbolic groups, each of which acts geometrically on some \((n+1)\)-dimensional \(\text{CAT}(0)\) space with isolated flats, and none of which is a closed aspherical manifold group. Flats of any dimension up to \((n-2)\) occur in infinitely many such fillings.