Convex hulls in hyperbolic 3-space and generalized orthospectral identities

Thesis advisor: Martin BridgemanWe begin this dissertation by studying the relationship between the Poincaré metric of a simply connected domain Ω ⊂ ℂ and the geometry of Dome(Ω), the boundary of the convex hull of its complement. Sullivan showed that there is a universal constant K[subscript]eq[subscript] such that one may find a conformally natural K[subscript]eq[subscript]-quasiconformal map from Ω to Dome(Ω) which extends to the identity on ∂Ω. Explicit upper and lower bounds on K[subscript]eq[subscript] have been obtained by Epstein, Marden, Markovic and Bishop. We improve upon these upper bounds by showing that one may choose K[subscript]eq[subscript] ≤ 7.1695. As part of this work, we provide stronger criteria for embeddedness of pleated planes. In addition, for Kleinian groups Γ where N = ℍ³/Γ has incompressible boundary, we give improved bounds for the average bending on the convex core of N and the Lipschitz constant for the homotopy inverse of the nearest point retraction. In the second part of this dissertation, we prove an extension of Basmajian's identity to n-Hitchin representations of compact bordered surfaces. For 3-Hitchin representations, we provide a geometric interpretation of this identity analogous to Basmajian's original result. As part of our proof, we demonstrate that for a closed surface, the Lebesgue measure on the Frenet curve of an n-Hitchin representation is zero on the limit set of any incompressible subsurface. This generalizes a classical result in hyperbolic geometry. In our final chapter, we prove the Bridgeman-Kahn identity for all finite volume hyperbolic n-manifolds with totally geodesic boundary. As part of this work, we correct a commonly referenced expression of the volume form on the unit tangent bundle of ℍⁿ in terms of the geodesic end point parametrization.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Mathematics