Volume rigidity at ideal points of the character variety of hyperbolic 3-manifolds

Abstract: Given the fundamental group $\Gamma$ of a finite-volume complete hyperbolic $3$-manifold $M$, it is possible to associate to any representation $\rho:\Gamma \rightarrow \text{Isom}(\mathbb{H}^3)$ a numerical invariant called volume. This invariant is bounded by the hyperbolic volume of $M$ and satisfies a rigidity condition: if the volume of $\rho$ is maximal, then $\rho$ must be conjugated to the holonomy of the hyperbolic structure of $M$. This paper generalizes this rigidity result by showing that if a sequence of representations of $\Gamma$ into $\text{Isom}(\mathbb{H}^3)$ satisfies $\lim_{n \to \infty} \text{Vol}(\rho_n) = \text{Vol}(M)$, then there must exist a sequence of elements $g_n \in \text{Isom}(\mathbb{H}^3)$ such that the representations $g_n \circ \rho_n \circ g_n^{-1}$ converge to the holonomy of $M$. In particular if the sequence $\rho_n$ converges to an ideal point of the character variety, then the sequence of volumes must stay away from the maximum. We conclude by generalizing the result to the case of $k$-manifolds and representations in $\text{Isom}(\mathbb H^m)$, where $m\geq k$.