On isometric actions of SL(n,Z) on three-dimensional visibility manifolds
Let \(X\) be a complete, simply connected \(n\)-dimensional Riemannian manifold with sectional curvature \(K\leq 0\). The boundary sphere of \(X\), denoted \(\partial X\), with a natural topology is an \((n-1)\)-sphere that consists of the asymptotic equivalence classes of unit speed geodesics of \(X\). Any isometry of \(X\) extends to a homeomorphism of \(\partial X\). The manifold \(X\) is said to be a visibility manifold if any two points \(x\), \(y\) of \(\partial X\) can be joined by a unit speed geodesic \(\gamma\) of \(X\); that is \(\gamma\) is asymptotic in one direction to the unit speed geodesics of \(x\) and asymptotic in the other direction to the unit speed geodesics of \(y\). If the sectional curvature of \(X\) has a negative upper bound, then \(X\) is a visibility manifold but weaker curvature conditions also suffice. In this article the author studies the action of \(\Gamma= \text{SL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\) by isometries on \(X\) and asks if \(\Gamma\) must always have a fixed point in \(\overline X= X\cup\partial X\). An illustrative example is the warped product \(X= \mathbb{R}\times M\), where the warping function in \(\mathbb{R}\) is \(\exp(-2t)\) and \(M\) is the symmetric space \(\text{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})/\text{SO}(n)\) with \(K\leq 0\) and \(\text{rank }n-1\). The natural action of \(\Gamma\) on \(M\) extends to an action of \(\Gamma\) on \(X\) such that \(\Gamma\) fixes a unique point on \(\partial X\). The main result of this paper is: Theorem. Let \(\Gamma= \text{SL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\). Let \(X\) be a visibility manifold and let \(h:\Gamma\to \text{Iso}(X)\) be a homomorphism. Suppose that \(\varphi p\neq p\) for every point \(p\) in \(X\) and every nonidentity element \(\varphi\) of \(h(\Gamma)\). Then either a) \(h(\Gamma)= \{\text{Id}\}\) or b) there exists a point \(x\) in \(\partial X\) such that each element of \(h(\Gamma)\) fixes \(x\) and leaves invariant all horospheres at \(x\). If one replaces \(\Gamma= \text{SL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\) by a finite index subgroup \(G\), then either a)\('\) \(h(G)\) is finite and \(h(G)\) fixes a point of \(X\) or b) holds for \(h(G)\). The proof is based on considering a special set of generators \(\{z_{ij}: i\neq j\}\) for \(\text{SL}(n, \mathbb{Z})\), where \(z_{ij}= \text{Id}+ e_{ij}\) and \(e_{ij}\) is the matrix with a \(1\) in position \((i,j)\) and zeros elsewhere. These generators have the following properties: a) \(z_{ij}\) commutes with \(z_{ik}\) and \(z_{kj}\), b) \([z_{ij}, z_{jk}]= z_{ik}\).
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