Homological dimension and critical exponent of Kleinian groups (Q841087)

One of the frequent themes in the theory of Kleinian groups is the relation between the abstract algebraic properties of a Kleinian group and its geometric properties, determined by its action on the hyperbolic space. The Ahlfors finiteness theorem and the Mostow rigidity theorem are among the most important examples of such relations. In this paper the author establishes a relation between two invariants of a Kleinian group: the virtual homological dimension (an algebraic invariant) and the critical exponent (a geometric invariant). Given a Kleinian group \(\Gamma\subset \text{Isom}(\mathbb H^n)\), consider the set \(\mathcal P\) of its maximal virtually abelian subgroups of virtual rank \(\geq 2\), i.e., the elements of \(\mathcal P\) are maximal subgroups which contain a subgroup isomorphic to \(\mathbb Z^2\). Form the maximal subset \(\Pi:=\{\Pi_i, i\in I\}\subset\mathcal P\) of pairwise non-conjugate elements of \(\mathcal P\). In other words, \(\Pi\) consists of the representatives of cusps of rank \(\geq 2\) in \(\Gamma\). Denote by \(\text{vhd}_R(\Gamma,\Pi)\) and \(\text{vcd}_R(\Gamma,\Pi)\) the virtual homological, and the virtual cohomological dimension of \(\Gamma\) relative to \(\Pi\), where \(R\) is a commutative ring with unit. Let \(\delta(\Gamma)\) be the critical exponent of \(\Gamma\). Then, for every virtually torsion-free Kleinian group \(\Gamma\), we have \(\text{vhd}_R(\Gamma,\Pi)-1\leq\delta(\Gamma)\). Suppose that the pair \((\Gamma,\Pi)\) has finite type, e.g., \(\Gamma\) admits a finite \(K(\Gamma,1)\) and the set \(\Pi\) is finite. Then \(\text{cd}_R(\Gamma,\Pi)-1\leq\delta(\Gamma).\) As an application of this result it is shown that for a non-elementary geometrically finite Kleinian group \(\Gamma\) such that the Hausdorff dimension of its limit set is equal to its topological dimension \(d\), the limit set of \(\Gamma\) is a round \(d\)-sphere, i.e., \(\Gamma\) preserves a \(d +1\)-dimensional subspace \( H\subset\mathbb H^n\) and \(H/\Gamma\) has finite volume.