Flats in 3-manifolds (Q816466)

The well-known flat-torus theorem states that if \(X\) is a CAT\((0)\) structure for a group \(G\) containing a rank \(2\) free abelian subgroup \(H\), then \(X\) contains a flat Euclidean plane on which \(H\) acts by translations. The author establishes a converse of the flat torus theorem for fundamental groups of non-positively curved \(3\)-manifolds. More precisely, the following more general theorem is proved: Let \(M\) be a closed \(3\)-manifold which contains a flat, i.e. an isometric immersion of the Euclidean plane, which lifts to an isometric embedding in the universal cover of \(M\). Then the fundamental group of \(M\) contains a free abelian group of rank \(2\). Using a result of \textit{P. Eberlein} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 167, 151--170 (1972; Zbl 0209.53304)], which states that the fundamental group of a closed non-positively curved manifold which does not contain a flat is word-hyperbolic, the author proves a weak version of the hyperbolization conjecture, namely that the fundamental group of a non-positively curved manifold is either word-hyperbolic or contains a free abelian group of rank \(2\). The proof is based on an analysis of different cases according to the behaviour of the flat in the universal cover of the manifold, under the covering action of the fundamental group. The last part of the paper is devoted to understanding when the existence of a flat in a manifold implies the existence of an immersed incompressible flat torus. This is the case if the manifold is closed, irreducible, orientable and contains no Seifert pieces in its JSJ decomposition.