Low dilatation pseudo-Anosovs on punctured surfaces and volume (Q6183214)

By a result of \textit{R. C. Penner} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 113, No. 2, 443--450 (1991; Zbl 0726.57013)], the minimal entropy (the logarithm of the stretch factor) of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of a closed surface of genus \(g \ge 2\) behaves like \(\frac{1}{g}\). \textit{B. Farb} et al. showed that the volume of the mapping torus (a hyperbolic 3-manifold) of such a minimal pseudo-Anosov homeomophism is bounded, independently of the genus \(g\) [Adv. Math. 228, No. 3, 1466--1502 (2011; Zbl 1234.37022)]. The present author shows that an analogous result fails for surfaces of a fixed genus \(g\) and with a variable number \(n\) of punctures. By a result of \textit{C.-Y. Tsai} [Geom. Topol. 13, No. 4, 2253--2278 (2009; Zbl 1204.37043)], the minimal entropy is now of order \(\frac{\log n}{n}\), and the present author constructs pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of such minimal order entropy, but with the volumes of the maping tori tending to infinity.