A discreteness criterion for groups containing parabolic isometries

Abstract

This note will prove a discreteness criterion for groups of orientation-preserving isometries of the hyperbolic space which contain a parabolic element. It can be viewed as a generalization of the well-known results of Shimizu-Leutbecher and Jorgensen in dimensions 2 and 3, and is closely related to Waterman's inequality in higher dimensions. Unlike his algebraic method, the argument presented here is geometric and yields an improved asymptotic bound.